Bad Luck Days
by Hikari-san42
Summary: DISCONTINUED. What happens when a science book says something hurtful about the Chipmunks? Bad luck days. A new bully, new friends, and all new trust in your brothers. Read and review!
1. It begins

**First I want everyone to rejoice! We have 223 fanfictions for Alvin, Simon, and Theodore! That's awesome! When I first joined, there were only 83. We've come a long way since December! YAAAAY! This one's number 224!**

**Well, here's the first chapter of my new story. It has the teaser in it, because the teaser was actually the first part of the first chapter, but it has more to it.**

**Some things people need to know about my stories.**

**1) There is not going to be any romantic realationships between the Chipmunks and the Chipettes. Don't ask, it's not going to happen. This is story's going to get complicated enough as it is.**

**2) As you might have noticed, I didn't put "humor" in the genre. There might be humor, but not a lot. This story is a little more serious than my last few. **

**Disclaimer: Alvin, Simon, Theodore, and Dave Seville along with Brittany, Jeanette, Eleanor, and Rebecca Miller don't belong to me. But every other OC does and can be used with my permision.**

**I think that's it for now. Enjoy the first chapter and review!**

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People are pretty much alike. It's only that our differences are more susceptible to definition than our similarities.

_-Linda Ellerbee_

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"Alvin!" Dave yelled up the stairs. "Hurry up, or you'll be late!"

"Fine." Alvin muttered pulling his sweater over his head. "I don't see why he doesn't yell at Simon or Theodore." He walked out of the room and down the stairs.

"Because, Alvin, Theodore and I are already ready to go." Simon said, running to catch up with his older brother. Alvin glared at him as they walked into the kitchen.

"Dave, can you pass the ketchup?" Theodore had tried everything to grab that dreaded ketchup bottle, but he still couldn't reach it.

"Sure, Theodore." Dave slid it across the table. Theodore reached out to catch it, but missed and it went sliding off. Dave had left the bottle open, so it bounced off the ground and ketchup came shooting out.

Simon, who had seen the red mass headed his way, jumped out of the way, but Alvin had his back turned and the ketchup squirted all over him.

"ARRG!" He yelled, falling to the ground in shock. Fortunately, he landed on his stomach, so none of the ketchup landed of Dave's squeaky clean floor.

"Arrg?" Simon asked, pulling himself off the floor and offering a hand to Alvin to help him up. Alvin ignored him and stood up on his own.

"I'm so sorry, Alvin." Dave said, examining his son. "Well, at least none of it got on you." He muttered.

"Gah! I can tell today's going to be a bad day already." Alvin muttered, walking back up the stairs to change his sweater.

"You know it's going to be a bad day when you fall out of bed and miss the floor." Simon muttered, but Alvin heard and turned to glare at him.

But he mis-judged the size of the step, his foot slid off and the rest of his body followed.

"Ahh!" He yelled as he tumbled down the three steps he had already walked up.

"Alvin!?" Dave yelled, running into the hallway. He laughed when he saw Alvin. He was lying on his stomach, sprawled out on the stairs. His legs were bent over his head and his hat was sideways on his head.

"What are you laughing at? Help me up!"

Dave suppressed his laughter and grabbed Alvin by the shoulders to pull him up.

oOo

"Oww!" Alvin yelled, walking into a locker door, later that day.

"How many was that?" Simon asked Theodore.

He sighed, "Seven."

"Please, tell me today's almost over." Alvin muttered, still on the floor.

"Yes, Alvin, we only have one more period left, science." Simon replied, reaching out to help the red capped Chipmunk up. Alvin took his hand without hesitation.

"I really hope we don't have to do something with fire today." Theodore shuddered.

"Or poisonous chemicals." Simon added, glancing at Alvin.

All three of them always ended up together in science when they did labs, today wouldn't be an exception. The teacher thought it helped them concentrate better if they worked together, because they were family. But Alvin and Simon almost always ended up fighting.

"I just need to go live in a bubble." Alvin mumbled when they had entered the classroom and sat down.

Simon glanced at the board, "All we're doing today is reading out of the book. Do you think you can handle that?" He asked, sitting in front of Alvin.

"Knowing my luck, I'll end up getting a paper cut."

"Come on, Alvin, look on the bright side." Theodore said, sitting behind Alvin.

"What bright side?"

"Umm.. This is our last class of the day."

"Nice try, Teddy, but I don't think anything can make him happy right now." Simon whispered right over Alvin's head.

Theodore opened his mouth to say something, but the teacher walked into the room.

"Hello, class." She said looking at them. "We have a lot to do today, so please open your book to page 102 and start reading about ecosystems.

Alvin sighed and pulled his book out from under his desk. He carefully opened the book, but felt his finger barely brush the page. He glanced at his finger and sighed, no cut. He glanced around the room, nobody was looking. He tapped Simon on the back.

"What?" Simon whispered, turning around.

"Can you turn my book to the right page? I don't want to risk injury." He threw Simon his best smile.

Simon sighed and grabbed Alvin's book.

When he set it back on Alvin's desk, it was on the right page, and Simon pointed at the text. _"Read."_ He mouthed.

Alvin glared as best could, but pulled his eyes down to the page.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Alvin held back a yawn as his eyes drooped closed. He jerked them open and tried to concentrate on the page in front of him.

Right as his eyes were closing, he saw Simon stiffen. Alvin smirked and looked back at the book. If the book got that reaction out of Simon, it had to have something interesting in it. He held his eyes open as wide as he could and stared down at it.

XxXx Five Minutes Later XxXxXxXxXX

Alvin yawned again as his eyes scanned the page.

_As you can see every organism has an important job in the ecosystem._ It droned. _Without them we wouldn't be able to survive. From the lowly chipmunk to the great majestic lion._

"Lowly?!" Alvin yelled, jumping up from his desk before he realized what he was doing.

"Mister Seville it there a problem?" Mrs. Bennett asked, looking at Alvin. Alvin felt Simon and Theodore stand behind him, hurt by what the book said almost as much as Alvin.

"Mrs. Bennett, I have to ask, did you pre-read the section before you had us read it?" Simon asked, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"No, I assumed the section was fine. No one else had a problem with it," She thought about it for a second. "Wait. Brittany Miller looked like she was ready to jump out of her chair earlier, but her sisters held her down."

Alvin glared at the teacher. "Do you want to read it now?!"

"Yes." She sighed, walked over to a desk, and grabbed a book from under it. "Would you boys mind coming up here to show me what's got you so frazzled?"

They nodded and walked up to the teacher's desk.

"What's wrong?" She asked

"This." Simon opened the book and pointed at the line.

"Oh, dear." She muttered, eyes re-reading the line over and over again. "I can see your concern."

"Ya' think?" Alvin muttered.

"But I have to agree with the book." Their eyes got wide. "The chipmunk is one of the animals at the bottom of the food chain."

Alvin had steam coming out of his ears. "WHAT?!"

Simon stepped in before his brother could do anything drastic. "What my brother means is, is..." Simon was, for the first time in his life, at a loss for words.

"I what I mean is, WHAT?!"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't carnivores at the top of the food chain?" All thee nodded. "And do you eat meat?"

Simon and Theodore looked at the floor in defeat, but Alvin wouldn't give up. "So what? Maybe we don't like meat!"

"We can't digest meat, Alvin." Simon muttered. "Chipmunks can only handle plants, worms, and insects."

"Exactly. The only situation that I see an omnivore being at the top is the human." The teacher went on.

"Wait! We aren't even talking about who's on the top of the food chain. What I'm so angry about is the fact that you let us read this chapter without pre-reading it!" Simon's eyes flashed. "If you would have read it before us, you could have avoided this situation all together!"

"Simon. Lower your voice. And I'm sorry that I didn't read the chapter before I had you read it, but I can't go back and correct something that _is_ correct."

"But, then why are apologising?" Theodore spoke up. "I mean, if it's right, why are apologising for it?" His eyes narrowed. He wasn't the stupid little butterball everyone he thought he was, he had a brain up in his head and he knew how to use it.

Alvin picked up on what he was trying to say. "Are you truly sorry, or are you just trying to placate us?"

Mrs. Bennett ignored him. "Just go sit back down."

Simon sighed and guided Alvin and Theodore to their seats. "Where did you learn the word placate?" He whispered to Alvin.

"From one of your books." He muttered back, glaring at the teacher, his blue eyes filled with hatred.

"Oh." Simon turned back around and concentrated on the scratches etched into the top of his desk. He had to figure out what to do in this situation. Alvin was obviously angry, Theodore confused and a little mad, but where did that leave him?

Before he had time to think further, the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. Simon slowly got up from his desk and started to gather his books.

Alvin jumped up from his desk with a _huff_ and stuffed his binder into his backpack. He didn't want to spend another minute in the same room with that educator. He glanced at his brothers and saw that they too were in a little rush to get out of the tense room.

They headed to the door together. Alvin was in front, breaking through any people who stood in their way, with Simon and Theodore side-by-side, walking through the gaps he made.

"Boys." The teacher called, but they kept walking. There were a lot of boys in the school.

"Boys!" The teacher called louder but they kept moving. They were just breaking the door when she called again,

"Chipmunks!"

They froze, but didn't turn around. They all had the same look on their faces. Astonishment.

That look didn't last long. Simon fell into an impassive mask, and Theodore looked down at his feet in an effort to hide the tears gathering in his eyes. Alvin was furious. He spun on his heel and walked toward the teacher, grabbing his brothers in the process.

"What?" He asked hotly, letting go of Simon and Theodore's collars. They both turned around and tried to look as mad as Alvin, but just ended up looking hurt.

Mrs. Bennett looked like she had rehearsed in her mind what she had been going to say, but had lost it.

"I-I." She stuttered.

"Got nothing to say? Well, then we ought to be going. We don't want you to have to waste your time with a bunch of_ lowly_ chipmunks." He spun back around and Simon and Theodore followed.

"Boys, I'm sorry." She tried again.

"I'm sorry, did you hear something Simon?" Alvin asked his bespectacled brother.

Simon looked at the teacher and saw no remorse on her face. She was trying to fool them into believing her, so they wouldn't tell Dave about this. And everyone knew how touchy Dave was on the subject of the boy's heritage.

"Yes, I did, Alvin." He said. Alvin spun around and glared at him, but noticed the hurt look in Simon's eyes. "I heard the lies of a human woman who has no sympathy for three cute forest animals." Simon meant it seriously, but the teacher laughed a little, thinking it was a joke. Simon turned around slowly, looking back at the teacher.

"I didn't mean it as a joke." He mumbled.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"He said he didn't mean it as a joke." Theodore replied as he glared at Mrs. Bennett. There was one thing that made him angry. When someone messed with his brothers. "And I have no clue why you laughed, because our own mother is a forest animal, and you don't know how much your laughter could've hurt us." He put a hand on Simon's back and gently turned him around.

Simon looked at his younger brother with thanks and smiled. They both started walking down the hallway, but stopped after a few steps.

"Are you coming, Alvin?!" Theodore called.

"Yeah, guys." He replied, studding the teacher's face. "Just never thought I'd see a Speciest this close before." Alvin turned and walked up to his brothers.

"C'mon guys." He said. "Let's go home to our _understanding _father." They all smiled and walked toward the Chipettes, who were waiting for them at the exit of the school building.

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**I hope it got your attention. I had fun writting this chapter and can't wait the write the rest.**

**Everyone needs to know that I'm five chapters ahead of you now. Well, not exactly five, but pretty close. I'm halfway done with number five. So I'll update almost everyday, unless I hit Writer's Block. (Which, I'm sad to say, I have right now. The first time on this story.) **

**That's it for now! **

**Review! Or else!**


	2. It's Just Wrong

**Well, this was susposed to be up 45 minutes ago, but I got preoccupied. (Looks at Kitty.) **

**But anyway, I would like to thank Kitty Seville for helping me. And Diana 26.5 for letting me bounce ideas off her. You guys are life savers!**

**Now to the chapter, if you have any questions, just ask. I'll answer all of them next chapter.**

**Enjoy! And reivew!**

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It is worse that immoral, it's a mistake.

_-Dean Acheson_

* * *

Alvin pulled Simon and Theodore out the doors before they could say a word to the Chipettes. Simon and Theodore looked back at the girls with apologies clear on their faces.

"What's up with them?" Brittany asked out loud as she walked out to doors to follow them.

"Do you think it has anything to do with what we read in the science book?" Jeanette asked, thinking out loud.

"I bet it is. I heard them talking to the teacher about it in the hallway just a few minutes ago." Eleanor said as she sped up to keep up with Brittany's fast pace.

"I'm not surprised Alvin got mad about it." Jeanette mused. "I know _I_ was a little hurt."

"I won't be surprised if Dave somehow finds out about it and talks to the school board about it." Eleanor stated, grabbing Brittany's shoulder to spin her around. "I'm going to be at that meeting if it happens. What about you two?"

Jeanette nodded while Brittany scanned her nails. Both Jeanette and Eleanor stared at her. She looked up and noticed the looks on their faces.

"Of course, I'll be there!"

XxXxXxxXxXxX

Alvin _huffed_ as he sat down in Dave's old car. _Uh, Oh. _Dave thought to himself.

"What happened this time?" Dave asked as he turned around. All three boys ignored him. "Guys. What is it? Extra homework? Did you get in trouble?" Dave was frantic now. If something had happened to Alvin, Simon or Theodore would've told him, but whenever all three ignored him...

They sat in the car silently as Dave drove down the street. Suddenly, he veered off to the side and cut the car off on the shoulder.

"Okay. I want to know what's going on, _right now_." He said, glaring at each of the boys in turn.

"Nothing, Dave." Simon mumbled as he stared out the window. He was still undecided on how to react to this situation.

Alvin _huffed_ and glared right back at Dave. But he tore his eyes away and turned to look out his window as well.

Dave turned his attention to Theodore, who was sitting in the middle. He had no window to look out of, so he looked past Dave, and out the front window.

"Okay, boys. I'm not going to move this car until you tell me what's going on."

"We told you, Dave." Simon said as he pulled his head around to look at him. "It's nothing." He smiled, but Dave could still see the hurt in his eyes.

"Dave." Alvin said, hoping to get Dave to look at him instead of Simon. "We're fine. Nothing happened."

"Yeah. Especially something to do with the Science book." Theodore clapped his hands over his mouth. "Oops." He mumbled from underneath them.

Dave's eyes narrowed. "What's this about the Science book?"

"Okay, Dave. If we agree to tell you, will you please take us home?" Simon asked

"Sure." Dave nodded a little uncertainly. He started the car back up and pulled back onto the street.

The ride was spent in an uncomfortable silence and after a while Theodore started to squirm.

When they finally arrived at the house, Dave stopped the car to let the garage door open all the way. Alvin and Simon took this as an opportunity to open their doors simultaneously and jump out, leaving Theodore and Dave in the car.

"I knew it was to good to be true." Dave mumbled as he pulled all the way into the garage. "Come on, Theodore." He said as he popped the door open.

Theodore followed, slowly. He knew he had to stall Dave as long as possible, for Alvin and Simon to come up with something to do.

"Hey, Dave?" He called running up to his adoptive father and grabbing his hand. He pulled and Dave turned to look at him. "Do you think we could go see Mom? I mean, it_ is_ Friday and we really miss her..." Theodore kept talking as he took a few steps away from the house.

"Theodore, I don't know... I'll have to think about it."

"Okay." He replied not wanting to press the subject, because then Dave would catch on. Dave turned back around and started toward the house.

"Um, Dave?" Theodore asked again, his mind racing. Then something popped into his head. The one question a dad hates being asked.

"Yes, Theodore?"

"Um, I know we're still a little to young to know about this but, where do babies come from?"

--

"Okay, Simon." Alvin said as soon as he and his older brother made it into the house. "What are we going to do?"

"What can we do, Alvin? It's not like we can sue the school..." He trailed off when he saw Alvin's face. "No! We cannot sue the school!"

"But Simon, look at what a great opportunity this could present. We can get rid of that horrible comment, and we could make some money doing it." He rubbed his fingers together, showing how rich they could get.

"Alvin." Simon groaned. "Why is everything you do about money, or 'challenging the ordinary'?"

"Because that's the way I operate, Simon. Now, listen. Wh-"

"No." Simon replied as he crossed his arms. "I refuse to take part in your plans again, Alvin. Remember what happened last time?"

"So Theodore turned into a werewolf. That happens to a lot of people."

"No, it doesn't, Alvin. It only happens to us. Because we have you for a brother." By this time Simon was nose to nose with Alvin was was poking him in the chest.

"Now, you can't blame that on me. It was all Talbot's fault." Alvin replied as he backed up.

"Was it?" Simon said, blatantly sarcastic. "What about the time before that? When we had to deal with Frankenstein and that crazy doctor kidnapped you."

"Actually, that was your fault." Simon's eyes bulged.

"My fault?!"

"Yeah, duh. Who's the one who made us go into that castle?"

"If you hadn't have gotten us lost, then we wouldn't have been in the park that late at night in the first place!" Simon looked ready to hit something.

Alvin thought about it for a moment. "Hm. It seems your right."

"Aren't I always?"

Alvin continued, ignoring Simon's interruption. "It may have been my fault that one time, but that do-"

"One time? Try all the time, Alvin." Simon interrupted as he jumped up to sit on the couch.

"That doesn't matter, Simon. That book called us _lowly_! Simon! Lowly!" Alvin jumped up onto the couch next to his older brother.

"Just because it said that doesn't mean we can sue the school!"

"Simon it said and I quote: _As you can see, every animal is important. From the _lowly _chipmunk to the majestic lion. _What would Mom think if she rea-" Alvin stopped when a shadow fell over him.

"Ehe, hi Dave." Simon said pulling on his collar. He looked around Dave at Theodore. The little green clad Chipmunk shrugged and held up his hands.

_"I tried."_ He mouthed. Simon smiled and looked back at Dave.

"What's up, Dave?" Alvin asked as he slowly turned around on the couch and sat down.

"Apparently, something about the Science book. If I heard correctly, you said it called you _lowly_?"

"Lowly is a relative term." Simon said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "It could mean feeling low, or on the bottom, or even _I'm going to kill Alvin for yelling it out loud_." Simon muttered the last part threw his teeth, but Dave caught it.

"Now, Simon." He said, a waring tone in his voice. "You were going to tell me eventually, right?" Alvin and Simon looked to the side. "Right?" Dave glanced behind his shoulder at Theodore, but he was studding his shoes. "You weren't going to tell me?" He asked as he sank to the couch.

"Guys, when things like this come up, you need to tell me." He put a hand around Alvin and Simon's shoulder's while he motioned to Theodore with his head. The smallest Chipmunk scurried over and climbed into Dave's lap. "I know you don't usually have to deal with things like this, but_ when_ it does come up..." He trailed off hoping that the boys got the idea.

"We know, Dave." Simon said as he dipped his head in shame. "Tell you."

"That's right. You need to tell me." Dave squeezed their shoulders and got up. "Now, I need to go call Mr. Talbot. Is there anything else you need to tell me about this?"

"Um, Dave. The Science teacher got really mean." Theodore said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"How mean?" Dave asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"She tried to get us to forgive her for siding with the book, so we wouldn't tell you." Alvin replied while he turned on the TV.

Dave sighed and picked up the phone.

"Wait!" Alvin yelled as he glanced over the back of the couch. "You're really calling Talbot?! I thought you were joking!"

"What else do you expect me to do?" Dave asked as he dialed.

Alvin mumbled incoherently.

"What was that?" Dave asked.

"He said we should sue the school." Simon replied as he opened his backpack. He had followed Dave into the kitchen.

Dave shook his head and looked at Simon. "I wonder who gave him that idea?" He mumbled. Simon smiled behind his binder and got out a pen.

"Theodore!" Dave called right before he pressed the 'talk' button. "You and Alvin get in here and do your homework!"

"Don't have any!" Alvin replied, laughing at whatever was on the screen.

Dave's brow furrowed and he glanced at Simon. He was wrote something down and held it up to Dave.

_It's Friday._It said in big, block letters. Dave smiled and patted Simon on the head. "Get outta of here." He said as he pushed him toward the living room.

Dave sighed when Simon left. He knew exactly what Simon had been doing. He had been stalling, but he knew Simon couldn't help him stall for forever.

He hit the 'talk' button and held the phone up to his ear as it started to dial.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXXxX

"Okay, guys, get a good nights sleep." Dave said later that night. "Talbot has convened an emergency school board meeting tomorrow and you three have to be there." He snapped the light off and shut the door behind him as he left.

All three stayed still until they heard his foot-falls disapear. They Alvin pulled out a flashlight from under his covers and held it up to his face.

"Mwhahahaha!" He laughed in the quiet space. Both Simon and Theodore jumped, for they hadn't been looking at him when he did that.

"Stop it!" Simon hissed as he slid off his bed. "If Dave catches us, we're dead."

"Yeah, Alvin, quit it. You know it scares me." Theodore scolded as he too dropped to the floor.

"Sorry, but I couldn't resist." Alvin said as he shined the light at the floor and jumped off his own bed.

"What do you want to talk about?" Simon asked as he yawned. "I mean, what could be sooo important that we have to loose our valuable sleep?"

"Don't you think Dave's taking this a little _too _seriously?" Alvin asked. Simon and Theodore looked at him like he had just said that he had two heads. Even in the minimal light, he could tell they were looking at him.

"You confound me, Alvin." Simon said as he put a hand on his forehead. "One second you want to sue the school, and the next you want Dave to let it go."

"I never said let it go. I just said that maybe he's taking it a little to seriously. Isn't a School Board Meeting a little much?"

"Alvin." Theodore groaned, separating his name into two parts. "You just said a few hours ago, that you wouldn't rest until this was set right. Well, here we are, and we're not resting!" Theodore was really irritable when he didn't get all the sleep he needed.

"I know Theodore, but what if the media catches onto this? What would the people of the world see if they read something about this?"

"They would see three kids, trying to fix something that's morally wrong." Simon replied as he walked back to his bed.

"That's just it Simon, this isn't morally wrong. It's a mistake, but I don't know if everyone will see it that way." Alvin jumped up on Simon's bed to get the point across.

"Of course they'll see it that way!" Simon cried, exasperated. He stood up and towered over Alvin, using his extra few inches to his advantage. "Imagine if this was a question of race. Would the world be behind the person who was immorally humiliated, or the person who insulted them?!"

"Yeah, Alvin." Theodore said from his spot on the floor. "Why would the world turn it's back on someone just because of their background?"

"It's just that, I thought you would-"

"Would what, Alvin?" Simon asked. "We would let a Speciest get away with this, just because of some bad publicity?" He glared at Alvin.

"You're right." Alvin said after a while. Simon and Theodore both looked shocked. "I guess I was just thinking about our image, but this is more important than our stupid image!" He lifted his head and Simon and Theodore could both see the fire shinning in his blue eyes.

Simon smiled and opened his mouth to speak but something interrupted him.

_"Boys! Are you talking?! You should be asleep!" _They heard Dave's voice coming from down the hallway, and scrambled to get into their beds.

Dave opened the door and stuck his head in. He flicked the light on and looked at all three seemingly sleeping forms. The one in the middle groaned and turned over.

"Dave!" He called in a sleepy voice. "Turn off the light! What do we have to do to get a good night's sleep around here?!"

Dave smiled and turned the light off. He closed the door and walked back down the stairs. He still had things to take care of.

All three Chipmunks smiled when they heard Dave leave. Alvin had handled that perfectly.

* * *

**Well, that it for today. I hope you liked it. **

**Please, review! Please?**

**Oh, and I have a question. Are any of you getting emails from FF? I'm not and it's starting to worry me.**

**rEvIeW! Now!**


	3. School Board Meeting

**Okay, here's the next chapter! Hope it lived up to everyone's expectations.**

**Disclaimer: I am not a man! So I can't be, Ross Bagdasarian Sr. or Jr. can I?**

_I learned from the example of my father, that the manner in which one endures what must be endured is more important than the thing that must be endured._

_-Dean Achenson_

* * *

"Mr. Seville, please state why you're here and who you brought with you." Talbot instructed the next day at the school board meeting.

"Well, some of the children who go to your school were offended yesterday by something in the Science book, and I'm here to discuss a peaceful solution. I have brought Alvin, Simon, and Theodore Seville along with Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor Miller, because they were the children offended."

"What exactly did the Science book say?" One of the board members asked.

Dave looked at Simon and he handed Dave the book. "It said: _As you can see, every animal is important. From the _lowly _chipmunk to the majestic lion." _Dave closed the book and handed it back to Simon. "That statement was very offensive to these kids. They are the beings that the book called lowly and are not scared to show it, but that statement was very wrong."

"If I just heard correctly, the book called them important, did it not?" The board member from before asked.

"It did, but then it went and stomped on that importance by calling them lowly." Dave answered.

"Not every animal can be as important as the lion, Mr. Seville." A diffrent board member called, she had a sneer on her face. "And none of those animals should be at our school."

Dave and all six kids were taken aback. "Excuse me?" Dave asked. "Did you just say that these kids aren't good enough to go to your school?"

"I never said that they weren't good enough, just that they should be gathering nuts for the winter, not sitting in a classroom with normal _human_ children."

"Oh, my gosh!" Alvin cried out from behind Dave. "She's a Speciest!"

"Excuse me, a what?" A man asked this time.

"Speciest is a word the boys came up with the first time they met someone who discriminated against them because of where they came from." Dave explained.

"Which is the forest!" The woman cried. Talbot stood up.

"That's enough, Mrs. Newman! You will not talk to these children like that! They are citizens of this country, and as such they are given the rights of every other child!"

The woman sat down and resorted to glare at Dave.

"What do you propose we do, Mr. Seville?" Talbot asked.

"I just ask that you skip that chapter in the book and, change the boys to a different science class. Apparently, the teacher was very rude to them after they tried to politely point out this statement in the book, and then she tried to trick them into not telling me."

"Consider it done." Talbot said, not asking any of the other members for their opinion.

"Thank you." Dave smiled and turned around the usher the kids out of the room. But not before Alvin managed to turned around and look at the woman one last time. She sneered at him, and he glared right back.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Okay, boys." Dave said after he had dropped off the Chipettes. "How about we go visit your mom?"

Three heads popped up from the huddle they had been in.

"Are you serious?" They asked as one.

Dave laughed. "Of course. Theodore asked me yesterday, and I decided now was a good time."

They smiled and Dave turned the car around to head out of town.

oOo

The next day, Simon went out to get the paper. He and Theodore were the only one's up at the moment and they had decided to make Dave a good breakfast to thank him for what he had done yesterday.

"How are those eggs doing, Theo?" Simon asked as he put the sports section on the table and scanned over the rest, save the entertainment section. Alvin would tell them all about it when he got his hands on it.

"Just great! I've got them down to a science!" Theodore replied as he fished the eggs out of the pot.

Simon nodded as his eyes glanced over the words in the business section.

"Good morning, boys." Dave said as he came down the stairs. "Something smells good, Theodore." The little green clad Chipmunk giggled and put the eggs on the table.

"Here you go, Dave." He said as a piece of toast popped out of the toaster. He quickly slathered jelly on it and ran it over to the table. "And Simon." Simon smiled and sat on the bench.

"Thank you, Theodore." He said as he put the paper down.

"So why the special treatment this morning, boys?" Dave asked as he opened the sports section.

"We just wanted to thank you. You talked to the school and got that whole mess figured out, but you also took us to see Mom." Simon answered.

"Yeah. And Mom loved the new apron you brought her." Theodore said as he put a big pile of pancakes on the table. "I wonder how long Alvin's going to be asleep? I made enough pancakes for both of us."

"He should be getting up any moment now." Simon said as he glanced at the clock. "It's past ten."

As if on cue, a sleepy Alvin slowly descended the stairs.

"Good morning, Alvin." Dave said as he turned a page. Alvin grunted in response as he sat at the table and grabbed a pancake off the huge pile.

The rest of their breakfast was spent in comfortable silence, each person at the table stuck in their own thoughts.

"I'm done." Simon said, breaking the silence as he wiped his mouth off with a napkin. "Oh, Alvin." He said as he passed part of the paper to the middle child. "Here's the entertainment section."

"Thanks." Alvin said, his mouth full with food. He glanced at it and gasped. After he had managed to swallow the food in his mouth, he pointed at it. "Look at this!" Both Simon and Theodore jumped up on the bench to see what was so interesting, while Dave just leaned over. In big bold letters it said:

**_SCIENCE BOOK SCANDAL...?_**

"How did they find out about this?" Theodore squeaked.

Dave shook his head and grabbed the paper from Alvin's hands. "I don't know." He said as quickly read it over. "An inside source." He sighed. "We'll never know."

"Not necessarily, Dave. We could figure it out." Simon said as he took the paper to scan it.

"I bet it was that Speciest." Alvin mumbled as he crossed his arms.

"It doesn't matter." Dave said after a while. "Now, go get dressed. You have all day to do anything you want. Don't waste it by trying to figure it out."

"Yes, Dave." All three mumbled. Alvin and Simon walked in the direction of the stairs while Theodore stuffed one last bite of pancake in his mouth and followed.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"I'm telling you, Simon. It has to be her." Alvin said for the fifth time that day.

"Alvin." Simon groaned. "Why do you always have to figure these things out? Why can't you just leave well enough alone?"

"Because, I can already tell that _we_aren't going to be left alone because of this."

"How do you know?" Simon asked as he flipped through the channels on the TV.

"This is how." Alvin pulled back the curtain and a dozen flashbulbs went off.

"What the heck?!" Simon had been startled by the sudden flash of lights and was on the floor. "When did all those reporters get here?"

"My guess, they've been here since this morning." Alvin quickly pulled the curtain shut.

"Okay." Simon said as he got up and brushed himself off. "Let's say I believe you about the Speciest. What are you going to do about it?"

"I was hoping to get you to help."

"No."

"What?!"

"I am not helping you in one of your crazy schemes. I refuse."

"Oh, Come on, Simon. Why do you always have to be a fun sucker?"

"I'd rather be a fun sucker than be grounded." Simon crossed his arms.

"Grounded? Who said anything about being grounded?" Alvin looked confused.

"Alvin, face it. When you come up with these schemes to 'challenge the ordinary,' as you call it, being grounded is always tacked onto the end."

"Touche." Alvin muttered at Simon's smug face. "But this woman challenged our honor! Doesn't that mean anything to you?!"

"Alvin," Simon sighed. "There are more important things in the world than honor."

"Oh, yeah. Like what?"

"Education, family, ou-" Alvin cut him off.

"What about family honor?"

"Alvin." Simon groaned. "That's not the point. Do you have any real proof this Speciest told the reporters about the school board meeting?"

"Well, no. But that's why I need you to help me get it."

Simon sighed and picked up the remote. "If you get some kind of proof, then I'll help you get more." He turned the TV off and walked out of the room.

Alvin took a few steps to follow Simon, but paused. "Hey, Theodore!" He called.

"Yes, Alvin?" Theodore's voice came from the kitchen.

"Don't open any of the downstairs windows!"

"Why?" Out of curiosity, Theodore opened the bay window in the kitchen. "AHH!" He yelled as he cringed away from all the flashes.

"That's why!" Alvin called as he followed Simon. He wasn't done with him yet.

--

Across town, a boy by the name Brett Collins picked up the morning paper. His eyes searched the page for anything interesting. He smiled when they landed on the article about the Chipmunks.

"Hm." He mused as he read the artical. "It seems like you have gotten yourselves in the perfect positions." He said as he walked into his house.

He glanced at his mother and smiled. She smiled back and turned to look back at the TV. Her face was scared all on the right side, and the doctors had said it was a miracle that she could even see out of that eye.

Ever since that fateful day when his mother had been attacked by a bear, Brett had sworn to get revenge on all animals, no matter if they were predators or not. And the Chipmunks were the perfect place to start...

* * *

**Okay, before all of you jump me with the "Alvin's not the oldest!" thing. I have to explain myself. I put Simon as the olders, because things are going to get rough and Alvin and Theodore are going to need a strong older brother. Not that Alvin isn't strong, but he usually cracks under too much pressure. So that's my reasoning. If you don't like it, feel free to express that, but I'm not going to change it. My story, my rules.**

**Thanks. Please review! PLEASE?! I'M BEGGING HERE? Am I going to have to rant again?**

* * *


	4. New Enemy

**Hi! Sorry about the wait, but I was caught up in a diffrent project. Check out my profile for details on that project. I have also been writting "The Rules for writting a Chipmunk Fanfic." It's just a really stupid rule list that no one has to follow, but it's funny!! Go see how many you broke with your stories! Co-Written by Kitty Seville.**

**I also had a little Writer's Block on the sixth chapter. I know what you're all thinking. "This is only Chapter 4, how come you haven't posted the other two chapters?" My answer to that is, I'm trying to stay ahead. I don't know why. But I am.**

**I have also re-discovered the Animaniacs. And I've getting distracted by that show on Youtube. It's not taking over my obsession with Alvin, Simon, and Theodore but right now my brain wants to see a lot of stuff falling on cartoon characters that can't die. And when my mind wants something, I have to obey, or else run the chance of it putting up a wall. Thus, blocking the part of my brain that helps me write. (I.E. Writer's Block.)**

**Other than that, I hope you enjoy this chapter and remember to review.**

**Oh, and thank you reviewers! This story has gotten a bigger responce than the last two, but beggers can't be choosers.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned the Chipmunks, that movie that came out would've been a lot diffrent.**

* * *

_Any change, even a change for the better, is accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts._

_-Arnold Bennett_

* * *

"Simon?" Alvin asked as he shook his brother. "Simon?" No answer. "Simon?!" He called a little more focrefully. Simon's arm shot out and grabbed Alvin's.

"You had better have a good reason for interupting my sleep." Simon said with acid dripping off every word. He opened his eyes and glared at Alvin. "Because if you don't, you won't see tomorrow."

"It already _is_ tomorrow." Alvin replied as he glanced at the clock. 1:30: its blinking green numbers proclaimed silently to a sleeping world.

"Then why, pray tell, are you waking me up?" Simon asked as he let go of Alvin and grabbed his glasses off his night stand.

"Because I need your help."

Simon groaned and put his pillow over his head. "Why are you doing this now?" He asked from underneath it.

"Because you're easier to sway when your tired." Alvin replied simply as he pulled the pillow off Simon and threw it to the foot of the bed.

"Why you!" Simon bolted upward and reached out to strangle Alvin. But the red clad Chipmunk grabbed his arms and put a finger to his lips.

"Shhh. You don't want to wake Theodore." He pointed at the smallest brother's sleeping form. Simon looked at Theodore and glared at Alvin.

"I won't help you." He dropped back down and baged his head on his head board. He didn't move after that.

Alvin let out a soft laugh at Simon's expence and waited for the bespectalled Chipmunk to sit back up.

"Simon." He called softly. "You still have your glasses on." Simon didn't open his eyes, just reached a hand up and grabbed the glasses off his face. He guided his hand to the night stand and dropped them, but they missed and clattered to the floor.

Alvin rolled his eyes and grabbed Simon's head. "You can't go to bed now; you just hit your head." Simon rolled his eyes under his lids, but sat up anyway. He knew Alvin was right.

"Well, since I have to wait thirty minutes before I can go back to sleep, what do you need help with?" Simon asked since he didn't have anything better to do. He leaned off the bed and grabbed his glasses off the floor.

"I need help figuring out who ratted us out to the reporters." Simon groaned and put a hand on his forehead.

"Not this again." He moaned.

"I think it's the Speciest, but I could be wrong." Alvin said as he paced. "What do you think, Simon?"

"What do I think? I think that maybe you're taking this a little far. You need to let it go. If that woman did it, what does it matter? What are we going to achive when we figure it out?" Simon replied with raised eyebrows.

"The sense of a job well done?" Alvin winced when it came out as a question.

"No, Alvin. If one of us were hurt, it would be a diffrent story. But none of us were seriously hurt."

"But I _was_ hurt, Simon." Alvin grabbed Simon by the shoulders and started to shake him. "I was hurt emotionally. And my honor was bruised."

"Like that hasn't happened before." Simon muttered as he pushed Alvin's hands off him. "Can I go back to sleep? Or are you going to keep talking incoherently?"

Alvin glared at him, but kept pacing. "I know she did it, but all I need is proof. That's where you come in, Simon. All you have to do is build me something to help me spy on her."

Simon didn't reply, because he was already asleep.

"Simon? Simon? Simon!?" Alvin sighed and gave up. There was always tomorrow. Wait, today. No, tomorrow. He threw his hands up, and decided to figure it out in the morning.

XxXxXxXxX

Dave looked into the boys' room the next morning. The alarm clock had gone off five minutes ago, and he hadn't seen any movment.

"Boys. It's time to get up." Dave said as he shook each of the Chipmunks in turn. "C'mon, fellas. You have to get to school."

"Unnnnggg!" Theodore groaned as he rolled off his bed. "Why did Monday have to come so fast?" He asked no one.

"Get up, Alvin, Simon." Dave was surprised Simon wasn't awake by now, but, he asumed, he was probably trying to stall again.

Simon was the next one to rise from under his covers. He sat up and stretched. Then sleepily dropped off his bed to face the new day.

Dave sighed and picked Alvin up. "Get up!" He grunted as he set Alvin down with his feet on ground, but his knees buckled and Alvin tumbled to the floor.

"Ug. I give up." Dave walked out of the room.

"Alvin." Theodore said as he poked his brother in the shoulder. "You better get up. Dave looks like he's ready to get the ice water."

Alvin didn't move. Simon sighed and grabbed one of his text books off the shelf. He jumped on top of Alvin's bed and dropped it. It his the ground with a loud _slam _and Alvin bolted upward.

He looked around with wide eyes, but they soon landed on a smirking Simon.

"What'd you do tha for?" He asked as he settled back on the floor.

"You need to get up. Do you want a repeat of the bucket incident?"

Alvin nodded sleepily, and Simon and Theodore shook their heads. They tried. Simon grabbed his sweat shirt off the edge of his bed and went to change, while Theodore did the same.

When they got back, Alvin was still on the ground, but he looked like he was fully awake now. His breathing was erratic and he looked tense.

"Alvin." Simon said as he grabbed his backpack. "I think I hear Dave coming. You'd better get up."

Alvin groaned and sat up. "Why must we do this every weekday? Can't Dave just home school us?"

"Dave works, Alvin." Simon said as he threw Alvin his sweat shirt.

"Really? I thought we made all the money." Alvin stated dryly as he walked away.

"Just because Dave's home every time we are, dosen't mean he doesn't work!" Simon yelled at the closed bathroom door. There was the sound of running water and Simon knew Alvin wasn't listening anymore.

Simon and Theodore slowly started down the stairs. When they got into the kitchen, Simon glanced at the clock.

"Good call at getting us up a little earlier." He commented as he noticed the time. "Alvin just got into the shower."

Dave nodded and set their breakfast on the table.

XxXx Twenty Minutes Later XxXx

"Alvin!" Dave yelled up the stairs as Alvin was pulling on his sweater. "You'd better hurry, or else you'll be late for school!"

Alvin sighed as he pulled his sweat shirt over his head. This is exactly how Friday had started. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." He said to himself as he grabbed his backpack and made his way down he stairs.

"I'm ready." He said as he grabbed a roll off the table.

"I wouldn't eat that, Alvin." Dave said as he got up.

"Why?" Alvin asked as he took a bite. He quickly spit it out and made a face.

"It has ham in the middle." Simon replied as he walked over to the door with his backpack on his back.

"Are you tryin' to kill me?!" Alvin screached. "What are these doin' on the table?!"

"I was eating a few of them this morning." Dave replied.

Alvin gingerly set the roll back on the table and grabbed a piece of toast from the middle. "Is this okay?" He asked. "Or does it have little pieces of meat mixed in with the bread?"

Everyone groaned.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

As soon as the boys got into their first class, they were called to the office.

"What did you do this time, Alvin?" Somone snikered as they were leaving the room.

"It was probably gooddie-two-shoes Simon who did it, but he framed Alvin."

Theodore closed the door, cutting off the teasing. They made their way towards the office in silence.

As soon as they broke the doorway, a woman handed each of them a piece of paper.

"That's your new schedule." She explained. "The only thing that changed is your science class. You have Mrs. Barrett."

"Excelent!" Simon and Theodore gave each other a high five. Mrs. Barrett was the best teacher in the whole school. She didn't count tardies, unless you were late everyday, and she didn't give any homework.

All three were smiling as they left the office to face the day.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Those smiles didn't last long.

"Watch it, chipmunks." Brett Collins sneered as he pushed Alvin down in the hallway. His friends laughed with him as he walked down the hallway. Simon and Theodore both helped Alvin up and glared at the bully. But he had already turned the corner.

"What was that about?" Theodore asked as they walked into English.

"I don't know." Alvin muttered as he took his seat.

"Okay, class, get out your homework and pass it to the front." Mrs. Kirsten said as she got up from her desk.

Alvin looked mystified. "We had homework?" He asked Simon.

"No." Simon replied with sarcasm dripping off every word. "She just wants everyone to pass up blank pieces of paper."

"No need to be sarcastic" Alvin muttered as he sunk into his seat. But Simon wasn't done with him yet.

He tapped Alvin on the shoulder with the pages and smiled when Alvin turned to glare at him. "Pass these up, will you?"

Alvin jerked the papers out of Simon's grasp and threw them to the person in front of him. He sunk back down in his seat.

The smiling teacher walked across the room to get the homework from the people in the front seats. She then glanced at the top of each page to check who didn't turn their work in.

"Mister Seville." She muttered and all three Chipmunk lifted up their heads to look at her. "Alvin Seville." She claified. "It seems you didn't turn in your homework, where is it?"

"I forgot to do it." Alvin muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"How could you forget? To busy fussing with the school board?" That got a laugh out of everyone in the room other than the boys and Eleanor, who happened to share the class with them.

Alvin glared up at the teacher. "So what if we talked with the school board? What if something had called _you_ something degrading?"

"I would blow it off and walk away."

"Oh, yeah. What if it said something about your heritage that was wrong? Would you walk away then?" Alvin stood up to exaggerate his point.

"Well, no. But that's not the same."

"It's the exact same thing, Mrs. Kirsten." Simon said as he too stood up. "That science book said something degrading about our heritage. It called us lowly. But not just us, our mother too."

"I'm sorry boys. I had no idea." She said nicely as she walked to her desk. Almost all teachers always broke when Simon argued with them. "But you still owe me a homework assignment, Alvin." She sat back down. "But I won't count it late, because you did so much over the weekend."

XxXxXxXxXx

"That was nice of Mrs. Kirsten to give you an extra day to do the homework." Theodore commented as they left the classroom.

"Yeah. It was." Simon agreed, while Alvin ignored him. He was watching Brett Collins. The boy hadn't done anything to them since he had pushed Alvin, but he knew something was comming. "Alvin?" Simon waved a hand in fron of Alvin's face and snapped. "Earth to Alvin."

"Huh? What?" Alvin asked as he turned to look at his brothers.

"We were just talking about Mrs. Kirsten." Simon answered.

"What about Mrs. Kirsten?"

Simon sighed. "How nice it was for her to give you an extra day to do your homework."

"Oh. I guess she was just cutting us a break for once." Alvin was really out of it.

"We have to go to Mrs. Barrett next." Simon said as he glanced at his new schedule to make sure he was right.

Theodore and Alvin smiled.

"Race you there!" Alvin yelled as he took off in a fast walk.

"Hey!" Theodore yelled as he too, bolted. "You cheated!"

Simon sighed as he sped up to keep up with his brothers. But felt something sweep his legs out from underneath him. He hit the ground hard, and his glasses flew in one direction while his backpack went in the other. He heard laughter and tried to distinugish who was which blob.

He felt someone help him up, and he saw a big green and tan blob. He smiled, for he knew this blob.

"Are you okay, Simon?" Theodore asked as he brushed his older brother off.

"Fine." He saw a red and tan blob approach him and hold out something blue.

Simon thankfully grabbed his glasses out of Alvin's hand and placed them back on his nose. "Ahhh." He sighed when he could see again.

"How did you get here so fast?" Simon asked as he also took his backpack out of Alvin's hands. "I thought you would've been to far away to notice."

"We heard you hit the ground and turned around." Alvin replied as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I think I got detition for running."

"Oh. Did you happen to see who tripped me?"

"I saw Brett Collins laughing, as we ran by." Theodore offered.

Simon dug into his mind for anything important. "It was him." He said. As he remember a detail. "I saw him stick his foot out right before I tripped over it."

They didn't say anything as they finished making their way to science. This time, a lot more slower.

* * *

**Duuuun! Dunnnn! Duuuuunnnnn! The plot gets thicker.**

**Hope you liked this chapter as much as the others. **

**And remember to review! Or else no fast update!**


	5. Fights

**Now, it's time for... Frequently Asked Questions!**

**1) Q.** **_You said that all teachers break when Simon argues with them, why didn't that science teacher?_**

**A.** _Aha, my friend, you didn't read what I wrote very carefully, did you? I wrote that almost all teachers broke when Simon argues with them._

_2) Q. **What's with the quotes** **at the beginning of each chapter?**_

**A.** _If you read them carefully and then read the chapter, you'll see that they say something about the chapter. Like the last one said that every change has drawbacks. Brett Collins picking on the Chipmunks is the drawback to the change that is happening to the school. As the beginning of the story, a lot of the kids don't really... what's the word for it? Enjoy, for lack of a better term, having the Chipmunks at their school. They're not Speciests by any means, but they can barely tolerate them. Some are jealous, some just think they're annoying. Whatever the case, they could live without them. Then this episode with the science book happens and they start to understand them better. But Brett Collins starts to pick on them because of it also._

**3) Q. _Why are you being so hard on the Chipmunks? And what's with all the humans vs. animals thing going on? What has gotten into your head, woman!? _**

**A.** _Well, this story has a moral at the end! YAY! It's something that everyone who is reading this story should already know about, but hasn't really thought about. We just studied about it in school at the end of the year, and I can't get it out of my head. It's a period in History, and you'll all figure out which period I'm talking about later on, but I'm not saying it now, in fear that you would all figure out what's going to happen. Feel free to guess. If you guess correctly, I'll tell you you're right and you can try to figure out the story from there, but you may want to read it first. Because I might throw in a couple of surprises. (Also, Diana 26.5 and Kitty Seville, if you tell anyone or guess, I will hunt you down. Don't you DARE ruin this story for everyone else. ) (They let me bounce ideas off they and they both know almost the whole plot to this story, so they're not allowed to guess.)_

_And about me being hard on the Chipmunks, I don't hate them. I love them to tiny little pieces, but this is one thing that I personally think they should go through. Things are going to get rough, but things turn out for the best at the end. Also, in some of the episodes the Chipmunks have to go through some pretty rough stuff, and I think this one needs to be added to the list. I hope you understand..._

**I know that seemed like a lot, but I needed to get my opinions out. That's all for now, I'll put more up later.**

Note: I know this quote doesn't fit the chapter, but I just found it and I couldn' resist.

_In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards._

-Mark Twain

* * *

"Good afternoon, boys." Mrs. Barrett smiled as the boys walked into the room. "How are you?" All three smiled back and nodded.

Mrs. Barrett was a middle aged woman; one of the baby boomers, she proudly proclaimed. She had long gray hair, with glasses resting on top. She would pull them down over her eyes whenever she needed to read. And a spark of curiosity in her blue eyes that a lot of teachers had lost long ago. She always had a smile on her face and was never cross unless someone was being really bad.

"I moved everyone around so you three could sit by each other." She said as she waved a hand towards the three empty seats off to the right side. "But I'll have to move you if you start to get to talkative." She smiled down at them and they smiled right back.

They walked to their new desks without a look back, and sat down. But suddenly, Theodore shot up and walked over to the teacher. She bent down to hear his quiet voice and smiled when he finished speaking. She nodded while she replied and he smiled right back. Then, he turned around and walked back to his desk.

"What was that about?" Alvin asked as Theodore passed his desk.

"I was just thanking Mrs. Barrett for letting us in her class in the middle of the year." Theodore replied as he sat back down his desk.

Alvin rolled his eyes playfully, while Simon flashed Theodore a smile and gave him a thumbs up.

XxXxXxXx

During the middle of class, while Mrs. Barrett was explaining the Table of Elements, something hit Theodore in the back of the head.

"Ow." He muttered as he reached back to see what it was. It was a wad of wet paper. A spitball. Theodore made a face and grabbed it. He threw it down and looked back at the teacher.

But something flashed across his vision and hit Alvin. His brother reached back and grabbed the spitball before Theodore could even see what it was.

Mrs. Barret was watching this with narrowed eyes.

Next, Simon was hit, and Alvin brushed it off his neck, before Simon could reach back.

Mrs. Barrett's eyes landed on one boy.

"Ryan! What are you doing?!" She asked him. He quickly stuck the wad of paper and plastic straw he had under his desk.

"N-nothing." He said as he tried to look innocent. Mrs. Barrett wasn't falling for it.

"I saw you hit Alvin, Simon, and Theodore in the back of the head with those spitballs. Now, go out in the hallway." She pointed at the door and he looked at her.

"What?!"

"I don't tolerate anyone interrupting my lessons, and ruining my student's chance at a good education. Now, OUT!" He groaned and walked out of the room. "That goes for everyone in here. If you disrupt my class or harass anyone in my classroom, you will be written up. Got it?!"

Everyone nodded.

XxXxXXxXxXx

"Do you think we should tell Dave about the people picking on us?" Theodore asked his brothers as they left science to go home.

"No. We already got him into the last crisis. Plus we can handle ourselves." Alvin said as he turned around.

"Yeah, Theodore. Won't it seem like we're three year olds if we keep running to Dave?" Simon agreed with Alvin for once.

"I guess so..."

"Promise you won't tell Dave about this, okay?" Alvin asked him as they started walking again. He said it so casually that Theodore thought nothing of it.

"Sure."

They kept walking silently, not even noticing that the Chipettes had fallen alongside them.

"So...?" Brittany asked making all three jump.

"So what?" Alvin asked, already irritated.

"So, how did today go?" Jeanette filled in for Brittany because she was in a glaring match with Alvin.

"We got picked on a little." Theodore admitted and Alvin and Simon turned to glare at him. "What?" He asked. "You just made me promise not to tell _Dave _you never said anything about anyone else."

Alvin rolled his eyes and Simon just shook his head.

"We were getting picked on a little too." Eleanor said as they walked down the hallway.

"Yeah. It was all of Brett Collins's followers." Jeanette continued as the broke the doorway.

"Do you think this has anything to do with the article in the paper?" Simon mused.

"I don't know." Jeanette answered as she thought it over. "Is there any reason for them to pick on us?"

"Not really." Theodore answered as he waved to Dave.

"It'll probably all blow over by tomorrow." Alvin interrupted as be grabbed Simon and Theodore and dragged them to Dave's car. Simon and Theodore called back quick good-byes and yanked their arms out of Alvin's grip. Simon sped up to get in front of him and stopped.

"You need to quit doing that." He said as he planted his feet.

"Doing what?" Alvin asked innocently as he tried to push past Simon.

"Dragging us away from the Chipettes." He continued, as if his little brother hadn't spoken. "It's rude."

"So what? They're rude to us all the time." Alvin argued as he finally got around Simon, but Theodore popped up and blocked his path.

"Correction." Simon said as he came to stand beside Theodore. "_Brittany_'s always rude to _you_. All three are nice to us."

Alvin rolled his eyes and broke through once again, this time making it safely to Dave's car.

"What was that about, fellas?" Dave asked as Simon got in after Theodore and closed the door. He had seen Simon and Theodore put up a united front, and had seen them arguing. Granted, it was just words this time, but he knew Alvin and Simon would end up in a fist fight by the end of the day.

"Nothing." All three mumbled in unison.

Dave sighed and hoped it wasn't as bad as the last time...

XxXxXxXxXx

"So Alvin?" Simon asked as he did his homework later that night. "Did you get any evidence on the Speciest?"

Alvin looked up from his own work. "Simon, you were with me all day long! How could I have gotten any evidence without you noticing?!"

"Just thought I'd ask. We'll never know what you're capable of." He replied as he wrote something down.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alvin asked as he threw down his pencil and stood up.

"Nothing." Simon replied as he looked up at Alvin.

"Nothing? Simon it's got to be something if you're smiling at me like that."

Simon ignored him and looked back at his page.

"Fine." Alvin muttered as he sat back down. "I'm going to go find Theodore."

"You didn't finish your homework." Simon replied as he glanced at Alvin's page. "And you spelled eraser wrong."

Alvin sighed. "Fine!" He said as he threw his hands up. "You win!"

"I always do." Simon replied with a smile. He looked back down at his homework.

After a while, Alvin was getting bored. And he wasn't even half way through his homework. He glanced at Simon's page and his eyes widened when he saw that Simon was on the last problem. He glanced at the three problems on his page and back at Simon's. His answers were wrong!

He quickly scrubbed out his work with his eraser and wrote Simon's answers. He looked back up and saw Simon glaring at him.

"Hehe. This isn't what it looks like." Alvin said with a hesitant smile.

"So, it looks like you're cheating, but you're really checking your work?" Simon asked with a smile.

"Um, yup." Alvin answered with a nod.

"And it also looks like I was born yesterday, doesn't it?"

Alvin cringed, but didn't answer.

He got up from the table and stuffed as his pages into his bag. "I'm going to go finish my homework upstairs." He said over his shoulder.

But he stopped when something hit him in the back. He glanced down and saw a piece of paper lying on the floor. He picked it up and uncrumpled it.

_'Don't try to cheat off Theodore.'_ It said, and Alvin turned to look at Simon.

"What makes you think I'll do a thing like that?" He asked as he out a hand over his heart.

"I've know you my whole life. You _will _do something like that."

"No I won't."

"Will." Simon argued with a smile.

"Won't."

"Will."

"Won't."

"Will."

"Won't"

"Will."

"Won't"

"Will."

"Won't"

"Won't."

"Will." Alvin switched words without noticing that Simon had tricked him.

"Won't." Simon said with a smile.

"Will. I will! Now leave me alone!" Alvin stomped out of the room.

"I can't let you do that, Alvin." Simon said as he ran to catch up with him.

"Why not?"

"You just said that you're going to cheat off Theodore, and I can't allow that." Simon answered as he turned Alvin around.

Alvin ran through the conversation he had just had in his head. "Why you!" He leaped at Simon, but he dodged.

Alvin looked up from where he had landed and glared at Simon. "You know you're not supposed to use those mind games on me!" Alvin yelled as he jumped at Simon again.

This time, he landed right on him and they tumbled to the floor.

XxXxXxXxXxXXxX

"Okay. Guys. I knew this was coming, but what have I told you about fighting?" Dave asked as he looked at his two oldest sons. Theodore was standing right off to the side, watching.

Simon's sweater was ripped along the collar, on both elbows, and right above his knees, probably where he had skidded across the floor. His glasses were crooked on his face and his hair was everywhere on his head.

Alvin's hat had a big bite mark in it, and his clothes were ripped in almost the same exact places, except his "A" was falling off and he had to keep pushing it up.

Alvin and Simon didn't answer and both became very interested in the floor.

"You know you're not supposed to fight, boys!" Dave went on. "You're brothers, act like it!"

"But Dave." Simon said as he looked up, his glasses tipping to the side. "Almost all siblings fight. Physiologists say that if they don't then there's something wrong!" Dave glared at him.

"Most siblings use words to fight, not their fists. So they don't break things." Dave looked at all the rubble that was once his living room in the next room. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ground you." Dave said after he had assessed the damage.

"If you're afraid, then don't do it." Alvin said with a smile. Dave glared at you. "No TV for a week for you Alvin. And Simon, no computer." Dave said as he looked at each kid in turn.

"Yes, Dave." They said at the same time. They both walked up the stairs and into their room to change.

* * *

**Well, that's it! Hope you liked it!**

**And how come whenever I threaten to wait to update if I don't get my review, you all review? And when I don't I don't get any reviews? Why can't you review when I don't threaten? **

**Okay, anyway. Please review! And thank you to everyone who reviewed! I can't thank you enough! This story is doing so well!**

**So please! Review! Review! Review! Review!! Now! Or no update on Saturday! (I can't update tomorrow, because we're having a Fourth of July party.**

**Review!**


	6. Compromises

**Happy Fourth of July everyone! Yes, that's right! I'm updating on Independence Day! Why? Because I won't be able to update tomorow. My cousin's getting married and I won't have time, so I jumped on here and wrote the eighth chapter as fast as I could so I could post this! Aren't I good?**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this before schedule chapter. I think chapter 8 suffred a little because I wrote it so fast and it's not very long. but you're all just going to have to deal with it.**

**That's all for today. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go swim now.**

**Enjoy. And remember to review! Oh, and this one doesn't have a quote because I didn't have time to find a good one.**

* * *

"So, how was school today, fellas?" Dave asked at dinner that night.

Theodore opened his mouth to say something, but Alvin and Simon both looked at him. He closed his mouth with an audible _snap_.

"It was fine, Dave." Simon answered as he took a bite of his grill chesse sandwhich.

"Yeah. We got the best teacher in the school for our new science teacher." Alvin said as he picked up a chip of his plate.

"That's great. I'm glad everything's working out." Dave glanced at Theodore. "What's wrong, Theodore?"

Theodore's head shot up and he tried to smile. "Nothing, I was just thinking." He took a bite of his sandwhich and made a face. But he ate it up without compliant.

Dave examined each of the boys faces as they ate the quick dinner he had put together for them. Theodore had been up in his room all afternoon, so he hadn't helped make it. He knew he had burned the sandwhiches, but that didn't seem to be the problem. It seemed like they were somewhere else.

And he couldn't help felling guilty that he couldn't help. He knew the science book had affected them, but, he hoped, they would be ove it by now. It seemed they weren't.

"Guys. I know you're upset about what the book said, but can you possibly push it to the back of your heads? Life moves on." He smiled sadly, and all three looked at him with glassy eyes. They looked like they didn't hear a word he had just said.

"Sure Dave, we'll try." Simon said as he shook his head. When he looked back at Dave the smart shine was back in his eyes.

Dave sighed, he could always count on Simon.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

Later, Alvin and Simon were working together to get over their grounding. Simon would usually never even think about this, but he really needed to use the computer.

"Okay, Simon. Channel 11 should have the news on right now." Simon flipped the channel on the TV sitting in their room.

"And Alvin just follow the instructions I wrote on the page." Alvin nodded, and they got to work. With the TV on, Alvin could listen to it, and it still looked like Simon was watching it, because Dave thought Alvin wouldn't be caught dead watching the news. But he had started watching the seven o'clock news last week. And with Alvin doing all of Simon's work on the computer with Simon watching, they were getting everything done.

"It amazes me you two can work together like this now, and you were fighting just a few hours earlier." Theodore commented as he looked at the TV.

"I can't either." Simon said as he turned the TV up.

_"It seems the Chipmunks raised some concern a few days ago about something said in one of their text books. We tried to talk to David Seville, but he doged us all day. The boys weren't let alone all weekend, so we couldn't get a statement from them. In other news..."_

Simon mutted the TV. "It seems we're still in the news." He mumbled.

"I'm not surprised." Alvin muttered as he inputted something into the computer.

"Yea-" Simon was interupted.

"Boys!" Dave called. "You need to start getting ready for bed!" He yelled as he opened the door. Simon turned the television back up and Alvin minimized the page he was on and maximised a diffrent one. Dave poked his head in the door.

"I see you're serving your punishment diligently. I might lift it sooner if you keep it up." Simon felt a little guilty after Dave said that. "Get ready for bed, and we call all play cards or something." He finished as he pulled his head out of the doorway.

Simon sighed and turned off the TV to go change. Theodore and Alvin followed withouth a word.

XxXxXxXxXx

"Simon?" Alvin asked as he looked over his cards. "Do you have any threes?"

Simon sighed and reached toward his cards. Alvin smiled triumpently. "Nope. Go fish." The smile vanished from Alvin's face. He grudgingly grabbed a car from the deck in front of him.

"Theodore?" Dave asked on his turn. "Do you have any kings?"

Theodore sighed and took a card out of his hand. "Here." He said as he put it face down and slid it across the table.

"Thank you." Dave replied as he snatched it from the table. The game was getting intense. They all had four pairs of cards on the table and three in their hands. Except, Alvin. He had no pairs and only two cards, they had taken all his other one's.

"So boys." Dave said as Theodore was taking his turn. "How much homework?"

Theodore took the card Alvin handed him and looked at Dave. "Two worksheets, and he have to read a section out of the history book."

"Did you get it all done?" Dave asked and Simon and Theodore nodded. All three turned their heads to look at Alvin.

"What?" He asked as he gazed at his lone card.

"Did you get all of your homework done?" Dave asked again.

Alvin sighed and started ticking things off his fingers. "I did Mrs. Kirsten's make-up work, and did the two worksheets. All I have to do is read the section and I can do that in class tomorrow."

"No you can't, Alvin." Simon corrected. "We're having a quiz on the section tomorrow as soon as class starts." Alvin's eyes went wide.

Suddenly, he dropped his card, a three of hearts, on the table and bolted for the stairs.

"I quit!" He yelled over his shoulder. They heard a door slam, and heard him stomping around up stairs while trying to find the history text book.

While Theodore and Dave were looking at the stairs, trying to figure out what just happened, Simon too the opertunity to snatch up Alvin's card. Now all he need was one more three.

Theodore and Dave glanced back at the table and then up to Simon.

"Put it back, Simon." Theodore ordered as he pointed at the table. Simon tried to look innocent.

"Put what back?" He asked.

"The card. Simon, put Alvin's card back on the table." Dave answered for Theodoro this time, and Simon knew he couldn't disobey Dave.

He set the card back on the table and Dave grabbed it before either of them could blink.

"Hey!" They tried to protest, but the doorbell cut them off. Dave sighed and heaved himself up from the table.

He walked over to the door and pullled it open to revel the man standing behind it.

"Mister Talbot." Dave said with a surprised tone in his voice.

"Good evening, Dave." Talbot greeted. Simon and Theodore stuck their heads around the corner, but neither Dave nor Talbot noticed. "I'm sorry about the latness, but this is the eariliest I could come and talk to you. May I come in?" Dave shook himself once and nodded. Talbot stepped through the doorway and walked into the living room, still not noticing the two pairs of eye straring at him.

"What's Talbot doing here?" A voice asked from behind Simon and Theodore. They both jumped and turned to looked at the person the voice had come from.

Alvin was grining from ear to ear, and Simon glared at him.

"What have we told you about scaring us?!" He hissed as he poked Alvin in the chest. Alvin raised his hands in the air and chuckled.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist."

"Clearly." Simon muttered as they stuck their heads around the corner again.

"What are you three doing?" A voice asked from behind them again.

Alvin jumped and bumped into Theodore. They both tumbled to the ground on top of Simon and Talbot spun around to see all three lying on the ground, moaning.

He laughed a little and shook his head.

"I'm sorry boys." Dave apoligised as he picked Alvin up. "I didn't mean to scare you." He grabbed Theodore and set them right-side-up too. "But what were you doing?"

"Hehe. Eaves-dropping." Simon replied as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Dave rolled his eyes. "Why don't you go do something upstairs while I talk to Mr. Talbot."

"Yes, Dave." They said together as they walked toward that stairs.

"Wait, Dave." Talbot called. "This concerns them too."

"Oh, okay then." Dave let the boys walk past him and jump onto the couch.

Dave walked into the room and looked around. Talbot took the only avaliable chair and the boys took up the whole couch. Dave sighed and picked up Theodore. He sat down in the little spot that he had laft open and set Theodore in his lap.

"What do you want to talk about?" Dave asked.

"As the boys have probably told you, there have been children picking on them in the hallway." He paused to let this sink in. Dave glared at the Chipmunks.

"They didn't tell me." He said as he examined each boy's face. All three were impassive, but Theodore looked like he wanted to jump up and say something.

"Well, anyway," Talbot plowed ahead. "I saw when one of the boys tripped Simon in the hallway, and Mrs. Barrett also caught another shooting spitballs at the Chipmunks here."

The boys winced when he called them that and Talbot saw it.

"I mean no offense when I call you that, I'm sorry if I offended you." All three nodded. "Anyway, we have punished the children responsible, and they will not be doing it again. But if they do, we need you boys to come talk to us." Talbot directed the last part at the Chipmunks.

All three nodded.

"Well, that's all I had to tell you. I hope you have a pleasent night, and I'll see you three at school tomorrow." While he was talking, Talbot was walking to the door. On the last word, Dave closed the door.

* * *

**Well, there you go. And just because Talbot told Dave doesn't mean that everything's going to get better. The exact opposite actually.**

**But anyway, please reveiw. I'll update Sunday if you do!**

**rEvIeW!**


	7. New Friends

**Howdy, all! I know this is two days late, but I had this weird feeling about updating yesterday. I don't know what it was...**

**Anyway, this chapter has two new characters. YAY! **

**Oh, and Kitty Seville has gotten me hooked onto the Animaniacs, so if there are a lot of references to that, ignore them. They should go away in a few weeks. Or maybe not.**

**Back to business, I have an annoucment!!**

**Kitty Seville and I have started a joint account. We are working together on a collection of oneshots that go with her story: _Introduction to Society. _I wrote the first oneshot, and only got one review. Please go read it and please review. The link to the profile is on my profile. **

**That's it. Enjoy the chapter that's two days late!!**

**Disclaimer: Alvin, Simon, Dave, or any other recognizable characters do not belong to me, and I'm not making money off this story. I do however own any other OCs other than Kitty Noel. She belongs to herself. Those OCs can be used with my permission.**

* * *

"Okay, guys." Dave said as the Chipmunks slipped out of the car the next day. "Have a good day."

"Yup. We'll have a good day." Alvin muttered. "Dodging bullies."

"What was that, Alvin?" Dave asked as Alvin closed the door.

"Nothing." He muttered back. Dave sighed and put the car into drive.

The boys watched as he drove away and silently walked into the school.

"Hey!" They heard a voice yell from behind them. They turned around and saw Brittany, with her sisters no where in sight.

Theodore and Simon looked at Alvin and they all silently agreed. They slipped into the boys bathroom as inconspicuously as they could.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

As soon as the first bell rang, Alvin stuck his head out the door. No Brittany. He signaled to his brothers and they casually slipped out of the door and headed toward math.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Theodore sighed as he left the math classroom behind his brothers. That class had been brutal! It was the only class they shared with Brett Collins and it had to be at the beginning of the day!

But he could tell both of his brothers were as happy as he was that it was over.

XxXxXxXxXx

Nothing happened the rest of the day. They didn't see Brett in the hallway, and he left them alone in the lunch room.

But then came recess...

As Alvin and his brothers were walking toward the cluster of trees they usually sat under, Brett Collins stopped them.

"Where do you think your going?" He asked as he stepping in front if them. He was the same age as them, but was a lot bigger.

"To sit and enjoy recess." Simon answered as he pushed Theodore behind him. Alvin stepped up to stand next to him, also hiding Theodore from view.

"No, you're not." Brett said as he smiled evily. "You know what I think?"

"Nothing." Alvin snickered, and Brett ignored him.

"I think you three are going to start serving me." Alvin looked ready to burst out laughing.

"What?!" He laughed. "What makes you think that we would agree to that?" He started to turn around, but Brett put a hand on his shoulder.

Brett opened his mouth to say something, but someone grabbed his hand and shoved it off his shoulder.

Everyone spun around to see a girl standing there with an look on her face that made Brett move back.

"Kitty?" He asked astonished. "What are you doing here?!"

"I go to school here, stupid!" The girl said as she glared at Brett. "What are_ you_ doing?"

Brett glanced at the Chipmunks. He knew how mean this girl could get if he even hinted that he was picking on someone.

"Nothing." He mumbled.

"That's what I thought." She said as she smiled. "No get! Don't make me have to tell Talbot again!"

He looked amazed. "You're the one who told Talbot about me picking on them?!" He screeched.

The girl nodded. "I can't stand around and let you pick on innocent people." She smiled down at the Chipmunks. They may have been the same age, but she was still a good inch taller than them.

"But they aren't people!" Brett yelled as he pointed at the Chipmunks. "They're animals!" All three boys flinched and the girl looked like she had been slapped in the face.

"Animals?! _Animals?! _They're more civilized than you ever will be!" She tried to walk up to him, but a boy that the Chipmunks hadn't noticed was there before stopped her. "Let me go, Jamie!" The girl yelled as she pulled against the boys strong hands.

"No. You're making a scene." The boy replied in a steady voice.

The girl calmed down and the boy let me go. She glared at Brett.

"You better get outta here, but I want you to think about what you mom would think of you if she saw you picking on these boys."

Brett turned away slowly and walked toward the school building.

The girl turned back to the boys and smiled, totally transformed. "Hi, I'm Kitty Noel. Just ignore Brett, he's a jerk."

Alvin rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it." He smiled and suddenly felt a blast of energy surge through his body. He smiled and tried to contain himself. He shouldn't have drunk that soda at lunch, the caffeine was starting to get to him.

Simon held out his hand. "Thanks for the save. I'm Simon, that's Theodore and that's Alvin." Kitty took his hand without hesitation and they shook. "Kitty? That's an unusual name." Simon commented as Kitty let go of his hand.

"Yeah!" Alvin said as he butted in. He was loosing control. "Is it short for something? Katherine? Kiersten?"

Kitty glared at him. "Just Kitty." She grabbed the boy standing a few feet behind her and pulled him forward. "And this is Jamie." He smiled and waved.

"You two look a lot alike." Simon commented as he examined Kitty and Jamie. They both had brown hair, though Kitty's went just past her shoulders, and hazel eyes.

"That's because he's my twin brother." Kitty explained as she glanced at Jamie. He smiled encouragingly.

"Hey!" Alvin yelled as he lost total control over himself and let the caffinee take over. "We're tripletts! Are you older or younger than him?!"

"I'm younger, by five minutes." Kitty answered as she and Jamie took a few steps back from an excited Alvin.

"Cool!" Alvin yelled while he jumped up and down. "Simon's older than me by five minutes, and I'm older than Theodore by two!"

Simon leaned toward Theodore. "_What_ did he have for lunch?" He asked in a whisper.

Theodore's eyes were wide as he watched Alvin grab Kitty's hands and twirl around. "I don't know." He said as his eyes got so wide they popped. "And I don't want to find out."

Simon slapped his forehead as he watched Alvin run around-and-around-and-around Kitty. "I'm just waiting for Alvin to jump into her arms and go 'Hellooooo nurse!!" (A/N: Animaniacs reference.)

Suddenly, Alvin stopped moving and his eye lids drooped. "I guess the soda's wearing off." He said through a yawn.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The rest of the day was spent in relative normalcy. With Kitty's warning pressed firmly in his mind, Brett avoided the Chipmunks at all costs.

Kitty decided to walk with the Chipmunks in the hallway until this whole thing blew over. That way she could make _sure_that Brett wouldn't mess with them. The Chipmunks quickly agreed, having seen how easily this girl had manged to get rid of Brett so easily. And Jamie, mainly to make sure his sister didn't do anything too stupid, tagged along too.

When Kitty met the Chipettes, they too became fast friends. She got along with Eleanor the best. They were both the youngest in their familes, but didn't need anyone to protect them.

But something was gnawing on Alvin's mind as they were walking to science that day, and he decided to voice his question.

"How do you know Brett Collins anyway?" He asked as Simon hit him in the back of the head. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"Your question was too private. How do you know she wasn't his girlfriend or something?" Simon scolded.

"It's okay, Simon." Kitty said. "He's my cousin."

"What?!"

* * *

**Kinda cliff hanger. I don't know. Is it? **

**Anyway, I hope you liked it. If I get enough reviews, I just might update Thursday. (I have to have a day to write the 11th chapter.) I'm ahead. YAY!**

**Review!! Or else!!**


	8. New Information

****

'Ello! I'm baaaaaack! And I've brought a chapter with me!! Huzzah!!

**Many reasons why I haven't been able to update, but I'm only giving you two! HA!!**

**1) I got sick. Go figure. (I don't care it was only for today! Stop looking at me like that, Kitty! Gah!)**

**B) I had a major case of Writer's Block. My mind shut down on me. **

**There! You have your reasons. I'm not even going to go into detail about my NEW obsession. (It has not taken over my AATC obsession, but just kinda overshadowed it for a bit. Go fig...)**

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter. And see if you can figure out how the quote underneath this, relates to it. **

_

* * *

_

All the people like us are we, and everyone else is They.

_-Rudyard Kipling_

* * *

"I'm sorry." Alvin said as he turned toward her. "He's your what now?"

"He's our cousin." Jamie answered this time.

"And you still ratted him out to Talbot?" Alvin looked amazed. "Okay, your family is really messed up."

Kitty rolled her eyes and glared at Alvin. "Would you have rather me not tell on him and let him keep messing with you?"

Alvin backed up a few feet. "No. A messed up family is good." Alvin commented as he stopped in front to the science classroom.

"You don't know that half of it." Kitty mumbled quietly.

"Well, this is our stop." Alvin said as he stepped into the doorway. "Thanks for helping us."

"We have this class too." Jamie said as he stepped past Alvin and into the classroom.

"You do?" Simon asked as he walked past Alvin. As he was walking by, he casually pushed Alvin's mouth shut. It had fallen open from the information Jamie had just given them.

"Yep." Kitty answered as she walked past her brother and into the room.

"I didn't see you in here before." Theodore said.

"That's because we didn't know what they looked like, Theodore." Simon whispered as he walked to his desk.

"Oh."

XxXxXxXxXx

Over the next few days, things got quieter. Brett left the boys alone, and Alvin, Simon, and Theodore got used to the routine of meeting Kitty and Jamie in the hallway.

But then, Kitty and Jamie were absent from school. The boys heard that they had gotten the flu and weren't coming back for a week.

Then the harassment started again. At first, it was just spitballs and pushes. But then it got rougher.

Brett would corner one of the boys alone and verbally abuse them. Calling them things like: rats, over-grown squirrels, and, the one that hurt the most, they called them just plain _animals. _

After about two days of this, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore vowed to never go anywhere alone again. They would never abandon each other in the hallways to be taken down.

But they didn't tell Dave, or Talbot. They were too proud for that, or, rather, Alvin and Simon were too proud. Theodore was more than willing to run to Dave and tell him anything and everything. But Alvin and Simon stopped him, explaining that since they weren't physically hurt, there was nothing anything the adults could do.

So they silently endured the cold words and harsh stares that were thrown at them from every angle. Because, this late in the game, Brett had managed to get almost the whole school on his side.

Alvin and Simon both had tried time and time again to take Brett down in his evil word games, but Brett always managed to get them to admit defeat. But Simon was learning every time Brett defeated them.

Brett used mainly insults to lower their spirits, and then he would bring them down with one final punch. But Simon noticed that he had many weaknesses himself. He had been taken down by Kitty at the mention of his mother. And Simon could see the hatred burning in his eyes every time he saw the Chipmunks. Either his mother had been attacked by a bunch of rabid chipmunks, or, most likely, something had happened to her that made Brett hate all animals. Wasn't he the one that had attacked that cat a few months ago?

Now, all they had to do was figure out what happened to his mother, and they could bring Brett to his knees.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

After a very bad episode with Brett one day, Theodore couldn't take it anymore. His brothers' hopes were slipping and he knew he had to tell someone. But who?

He knew Dave was out of the question. He would just tell Talbot and he would punish Brett, but Brett wouldn't stay punished forever. He would eventually come back, and he would be meaner than ever.

He sighed when he realized there was no adult for him to talk to. He would just have to wait for Kitty and Jamie to get back and hope for the best.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Kitty and Jamie came back exactly three days later. And Brett immediately stopped messing with Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. He was still scared of the twins, and wasn't going to take any chances.

"So...?" Jamie asked one day as they were walking toward history. "How was it while we were gone?"

All three boys winced.

"That bad, huh?" They grimaced and nodded.

"We're sorry, but our mom wouldn't let us come back to school since we were so sick." Kitty apologized. "But just wait until I get my hands on Brett! I'll... I'll... I'll th-" She was silenced by Jamie throwing a hand over her mouth.

"You'll do nothing. This may be a problem, but it not your place to pick a fight." Suddenly, he pulled his hand away and glared at her. "You licked me!" He said as he pointed an accusatory finger at his little sister. "How low can you go?"

Kitty shrugged. "Heaven won't take me, and hell's afraid I'll take over." Jamie rolled his eyes.

"Can't argue with that." He muttered as he walked forward a little faster.

Alvin, Simon, and Theodore watched this exchange with wide eyes, Simon's almost as wide as the glasses on his face.

"Is it like this all the time with you two?" Simon asked as he sped up to keep up with them.

"Mostly, but Jamie knows I love him. Isn't that right older brother?" Kitty asked as she batted her eye lashes at him.

Jamie rolled his eyes. "Yup." Alvin, Simon, and Theodore looked at each other, knowing that that same concept applied to them, too. (They fight a lot, but still love each other.)

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Now that Kitty and Jamie were back, things started to calm down. Every person that Brett had managed to get on his side got the message that the Chipmunks weren't to be messed with when Kitty and Jamie were around. But they still managed to mess them in the classrooms.

There were spitballs, rude notes, and just cold stares. They were ready to scream.

But, Mrs. Barrett's class became a sanctuary. No one was allowed to do anything to anyone during that class, because Mrs. Barrett would go ballistic. That coupled with the fact that Kitty and Jamie were in class with them, made almost every enemy the Chipmunks had in that class quake with fear.

But other than those few exceptions, school became a living hell for the Chipmunks. Kitty and Jamie managed to protect them in the hallways and in Mrs. Barrett's classroom, but the Chipmunks were always picked on in those first few minutes in recess before Kitty and Jamie managed to get outside, and they sometimes got separated in the hallways. Most of the teachers turned a blind eye to the teasing, and the Chipmunks were getting desperate. Alvin was ready to scream at Dave for not noticing their problems, but he knew that was unfair.

But they didn't have to endure it too much longer. It was all about to come to an end.

* * *

**There! Happy now?! This was the really bad chapter I wrote on the 4th. Remember? When I got home I wrote it really fast, so I could update? AHA! You do remember!**

**Anyway, please review! Even if you hated it. I got a less number of reviews last chapter, and I don't know why... **

**So... Review!! I'll try to update when I can, but the room's spinning, already. Stupid stomach bug!**

**rEvIeW!! Now!**


	9. Something Familiar

**Hi there. Here's the next chapter.**

**I have bad news for all concerning this story. I am in a writing slump with this story. I can write others just fine, but this one has gotten the best of me. So I'm officially putting it on HOLD until I get my inspiration back. You may have noticed that my last few chapters weren't really up to par with the first few. That's because of this stupid slump. I have hit a wall, and can't seem to find my way around.**

**But there is good news! I had already written up to chapter 11! Yay! I can still update for a while, but after chap 11, no more until I get my muse and (hopefully my helpful writing star) back. **

**Right now the third installment to the RCMCC series is in it's planning stages. I should be able to start that one very soon, but I'm using an overused and almost dead plot line: Them meeting the Chipettes. I know its been done so many times before and I shouldn't be doing it again. But someone gave me the plot line for it a long time ago, and since he's not around right now (And wrote an awesome story, might I add) I decided to use it. (If any of you ever get a chance to talk to hallhomestead again, tell him I said thanks.)**

**I encourage everyone who read and enjoyed this story to go read my RCMCC series. (Note: The first chapter of Real Chipmunks Meet Cartoon Chipmunks is really bad, but the rest is better) Lot's of people said both stories (and the oneshots) were really good, and I would like to hear your opinion. (Yes, I know, I'm advertising) But some people have made the mistake to read them out of order. You need to read Real Chipmunks Meet Cartoon Chipmunks first. Then read oneshots 1-11 . Next you read Cousin Troubles, and, finally oneshots 12 - 14 . (Note: Those numbers are oneshot numbers. If you go by chapter numbers, then read 1-12, Cousin Troubles and 13- 15. There's an Author's Note somewhere mixed in there that threw everything off.)**

**I'm really sorry about this, but I can't write this story if I don't have any muse. It'll sound forced and won't flow. But also, I'll never forgive myself for letting out one of the worst things I've ever written out there. It'll be painful for you and for me.**

**Enjoy this chapter! (There's no quote. I know. Live with it.)**

**Disclaimer: Look back at last chapter.**

* * *

Everything fell into a pattern. Duck into corners in the hallway when they got to school, (Kitty and Jamie couldn't meet them at the beginning of the day, because they always got to school later than they did.) wait for the twins after each class, dodge Brett at recess, and rush out to Dave's car in the afternoon.

To make things worse, Brett seemed to be getting braver around Kitty and Jamie. He had actually tried to trip Simon again, but Jamie had managed to catch him before he hit the ground.

But after two months of the torment, Theodore was ready to end it all. He was ready to tell Dave. He knew Alvin and Simon would be mad at him, but he couldn't take the looks everyone kept giving them. Most of these people had been his friends those months ago, and they had turned on them, just because of one bully who knew how to talk. It reminded him of something, but he couldn't remember what.

"Hey, Simon?" Theodore asked that day when they got home. It was a Friday and he was basking in the good mood it put his brothers in. They were always in good moods on Fridays.

"Yes, Theodore?" Simon asked as he put his backpack on his bed.

"This whole situation reminds me of something." Theodore said as he gauged Simon's expression. He had slipped back into the impassive mask that they had all perfected over the past two months. "I don't know what, but all of our friends have turned on us, just because of one bully who knows how to talk." From the way Simon tensed, Theodore just knew that Simon realized the same thing.

"The Holocaust." Simon muttered as he put his hands on his face. "Oh, no." He moaned as realization hit. If things were starting out like they did in Germany those many years ago, they could end the same way...

Theodore snapped his fingers. "Yeah! That's what it reminded me of!" He looked at Simon's down casted expression and confusion colored his face. "What's wrong?" He asked as he jumped up onto Simon's bed.

Simon sighed. They had just studied the Holocaust in school, and he knew Theodore didn't really understand it. Heck, even _he_ didn't fully understand why that man did what he did.

"Theodore." Simon said as he placed a hand on his little brother's back. "Do you understand what happened during the Holocaust?"

Theodore started to nod, but then shook his head.

"Lots of people were killed," Simon explained, "Just because one man had been taught wrong when he had been small. He had been taught that this group of people were responsible for all the bad things happening in his country. He wanted to get rid of them." Theodore's eyes got wide. "And he almost succeeded. But a lot of countries banded together to stop him, and they succeeded."

Theodore smiled. "Good." He looked at Simon and his expression abruptly fell. "What are we going to do about _our_ bully?" He asked.

"I don't know." Simon replied. "Alvin looks ready to crack, and I know you want to tell Dave too." Theodore nodded. "I want to as well, but the only thing he can do it tell Talbot." Theodore winced when he realized what Talbot would do after that. Brett would eventually be back though. Talbot may be the principal, but that couldn't stop Collins. "All we can do is let this play out..." He trailed off.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Dave?" Theodore asked as he walked into the living room where Dave was resting his feet. He looked up from the television and smiled.

"Yes, Theodore?"

Theodore opened his mouth to say something, but then snapped it shut. He couldn't do it. He couldn't tell Dave. No matter how much he wanted to, no matter how much he wanted all the torture to end, he couldn't endanger himself or his brothers anymore. "What are we having for dinner?" He asked as he adjusted to the situation he had put himself in.

"Soup." Dave said as he glanced at Theodore suspiciously. It had looked like there was something heavy sitting on the boys' minds for the past few weeks, and he needed to know what.

"Oh, okay." Theodore turned around slowly, hoping that Dave would stop him and ask him what was wrong. That way he could tell him, and not get in trouble with Alvin and Simon.

But Dave didn't say anything, just watched Theodore's retreating back.

Theodore let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and glanced back at Dave one more time. He had turned back to the TV, but kept glancing at him every few seconds.

Theodore sighed and started to turn around, but someone bumped into him and he tumbled to the ground.

"Sorry, Theodore." Alvin muttered as he stopped to help Theodore up. Alvin tried to smile at his little brother, but couldn't. It looked like he was trying to keep his wit about something, and he quickly spun on his heal and briskly walked into the living room.

Theodore watched his older brother with narrowed eyes. It looked like Alvin had finally gotten over his pride. That or he was getting tired of the torment.

"Dave?" He heard his red clad brother ask. "Can I talk to you?"

oOo

Simon carefully examined every face in the room. Alvin and Theodore's expressions were the same as his: disbelief. They couldn't believe Dave was reacting this way.

"Now, Dave." Talbot said as his face stayed smooth. He had just heard Dave's demand and knew there was no swaying the man. But, he figured, it was worth a shot. "Don't you think that's a little extreme?"

"No, I don't. The boys should enjoy school, not have to be dogging bullies all day long." Dave said and it was final. He got up and walked toward the door. "Come on boys," He said as he grabbed Theodore's hand. "We have a lot of things to do."

"Where are we going, Dave?" Alvin asked as he ran to catch up. Simon quietly followed, but as he broke the doorway, he glanced back. Talbot was staring at them.

Talbot sighed and sat back down when Dave and boys had turned the corner. There was nothing he could do. This was Dave's decision, not his. But Dave was going to have a hard time doing both. Work and school...

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"What's going on, Dave?" Theodore asked as he climbed into Dave's car.

"Nothing, Theodore." Dave said as he started the car.

"It has to be something, Dave." Alvin argued as Dave pulled out of the school's parking lot.

"It's nothing, Alvin." Dave answered again.

Simon looked back at the school and sighed. "We're never seeing that building again, are we Dave?" He asked as he turned forward.

Dave sighed. Simon was too perspective sometimes. "Maybe. If this ever blows over, but not any time soon." Theodore and Alvin looked confused.

"Why not?" They asked at the same time.

"Because," Dave took a deep breath, "I'm homeschooling you."

* * *

**Well, that's it! Hope everyone enjoyed it. **

**Once again, sorry about the hold thing, but it have to be done. **

**Also, I'm NOT going to drop this story! I'm going to try to get out of this stupid slump and finish it!! I don't leave unfinished work. (Example: Cousin Troubles)**

**Please, review! Please! Your reviews are what kept me going this long! It I hadn't gotten them, I would've stopped writing this at least a few weeks ago. **

**One more question. Pay attention! This involves everyone!!**

**Do you want me to release the rest of the poorly written chapters every day, every other day, every week, every other week, every three days... etc? When do you want me to release them? **

**I know most of you will want them right away, but they're really bad, and if I release them back-to-back, the story will be over that much faster. If I release them every week or every three days, it'll make them last longer and not seem as bad.**

**Please. Review!! Or else I won't post the chapters I DO have written.**

**rEvIeW**


	10. First Day of School All Over Again

**Hellooooooooooo readers!! How are you all feeling? I'm feeling great!! Do you want to know why I'm feeling great?! No? You don't? Oh, well. I'm telling you anyway. **

**I HAVE GOTTEN OUT OF MY SLUMP!! YAAAAAAAAAY!! That means that this story is now taken off HOLD!! YAAAY!! Again!! **

**I have successfully written one of my best chapters to date: Chapter 12!! Whoo! But this chapter and chapter 11 have suffered greatly from his slump, so please, don't tell me that they aren't as good as the other chapters. I know this, and reviews are meant to tell me things that I don't know. **

**Few more things, this chapter has a song in it!! Yay! I think it might be the only one in the whole story that has one, so enjoy it. Link to it is on my profile. Please listen to it while you're reading. That's why I put it in.**

**The song is called _Yakko's World_. Yes, that's right. It's from _Animaniacs, _but it fit perfectly in this chapter and I couldn't help putting it in.**

**A special thanks goes out to Kitty Seville for Chipmunk-ing this song for me. I have no idea how to raise pitches and she did a wonderful job with it. Soooooo thank you!!**

**Disclaimers: Alvin, Simon, and Theodore do not belong to me. They belong to the Bagdasarians. _Yakko's World_****sung by Yakko Warner, does not belong to me, neither does Yakko Warner. Nor do I own _Animaniacs_. All three of those belong to Warner Brothers. **

* * *

_Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know.  
_

_-Daniel J. Boorstin_

* * *

"Okay, Simon." Dave said as he looked down at his oldest son. "Do we have everything?"

Simon nodded as he glanced over the checklist he had complied for this situation. "We have everything. From the history text books to the notebook paper. But Dave?" Simon asked as he glanced up at his adoptive father. "Don't you have to work?"

"I asked my boss if I could work from home, and he said I could, as long as I get new songs to him."

Simon nodded and winced when he heard feet banging down the stairs. Alvin and Theodore were up and ready for their first day of homeschooling.

"Hi, Dad!" Theodore squeaked as he leaped into Dave's arms and Dave chuckled. It wasn't unusual for all three of them to call him dad every once in a while, but he enjoyed it when they did.

"What's up, Dadoo?" Alvin yelled as he too, jumped into Dave's hands. Dave sighed. He hated when Alvin called him that, and Alvin knew it.

Dave put Alvin and Theodore back onto the ground and pointed at the table. All three looked at him and walked toward it.

After they sat down, Dave decided to figure out exactly how far along they were.

"Okay, Simon." Dave said as the blue clad Chipmunk glanced up at him. "What chapter were you on in the science book?"

Alvin and Theodore winced, but Dave decided to ignore them. Simon looked at the table as he racked his brain.

"Chapter two, section five." He said as the numbers came to his mind. Dave looked at the ceiling and groaned They weren't very far at all.

"Okay." He said as he resisted the urge to cry out in frustration. "Let's see if you know the things I was supposed to know when I was your age." He looked at Theodore and smiled.

"Can you name all the countries in the world?" Three jaws hit the floor, but Alvin and Simon didn't say anything.

Theodore glanced at his brothers desperately. Alvin shrugged and smiled smugly, while Simon offered a kind smile.

"Ehhhhhhh. Pass." Theodore muttered as he looked up at Dave. He smiled shyly, but Dave was already looking at Simon.

"Can you do it?" Simon's eyes widened as he became very interested in the floor. Was Dave insane?! Even _he_ couldn't do that?!

"I'll take that as a no." Dave said as he sighed. He turned to Alvin and the red capped boy smiled.

"I can do it." Simon's eyes widened and then narrowed. Something fishy was going on here. There was no way Alvin memorized all that.

"I even wrote a song to help myself." Alvin said as he smiled at Simon's expression.

_xXxXxXxXxXx  
START SONG  
XxXxXxXxXxX_

Alvin opened his mouth and started without hesitation.

(A/N: Ignore the announcement)

_"United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama  
Haiti, Jamaica, Peru,  
Republic Dominican, Cuba, Caribbean  
Greenland, El Salvador too.  
Puerto Rico, Columbia, Venezuela  
Honduras, Guyana, and still,  
Guatemala, Bolivia, then Argentina  
And Ecuador, Chile, Brazil.  
Costa Rica, Belize, Nicaragua, Bermuda  
Bahamas, Tobago, San Juan,  
Paraguay, Uruguay, Surinam  
And French Guiana, Barbados, and Guam._

_"Norway, and Sweden, and Iceland, and Finland  
And Germany now one piece,  
Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia  
Italy, Turkey, and Greece.  
Poland, Romania, Scotland, Albania  
Ireland, Russia, Oman,  
Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia  
Hungary, Cyprus, Iraq, and Iran.  
There's Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan  
Both Yemens, Kuwait, and Bahrain,  
The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Portugal  
France, England, Denmark, and Spain._

_"India, Pakistan, Burma, Afghanistan  
Thailand, Nepal, and Bhutan,  
Kampuchea, Malaysia, then Bangladesh (Asia)  
And China, Korea, Japan.  
Mongolia, Laos, and Tibet, Indonesia  
The Philippine Islands, Taiwan,  
Sri Lanka, New Guinea, Sumatra, New Zealand  
Then Borneo, and Vietnam.  
Tunisia, Morocco, Uganda, Angola  
Zimbabwe, Djibouti, Botswana,  
Mozambique, Zambia, Swaziland, Gambia  
Guinea, Algeria, Ghana._

_"Burundi, Lesotho, and Malawi, Togo  
The Spanish Sahara is gone,  
Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Liberia  
Egypt, Benin, and Gabon.  
Tanzania, Somalia, Kenya, and Mali  
Sierra Leone, and Algiers,  
Dahomey, Namibia, Senegal, Libya  
Cameroon, Congo, Zaire.  
Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar  
Rwanda, Mahore, and Cayman,  
Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Yugoslavia...  
Crete, Mauritania  
Then Transylviania,  
Monaco, Liechtenstein  
Malta, and Palestine,  
Fiji, Australia, Sudan."_

When he was done, Simon had a smug smile on his face. He knew exactly where Alvin had gotten that from.

Dave and Theodore looked amazed. "How... when... huh?" Dave stuttered and Simon stepped in front of him.

"He didn't memorize the countries. Czechoslovakia doesn't even exist anymore." He explained just one mistake of the many he had noticed. "It split into two countries in 1993: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He memorized that song from_Animaniacs_."

Simon saw realization come over Theodore's face and he glared at Alvin.

Alvin eyes widened but then he smirked. "Well, close enough." He said as he glared at Simon. "I got most of them right."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Okay, boys." Dave said as he pushed Alvin up the stairs after his brothers. "That's enough for today."

Alvin dug his heals into the carpet and crossed his arms.

"But we were having so much fun, Dadoo." He said with a smile. Dave groaned.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

Alvin sighed. "I don't know. Thousands."

"Exactly." Dave looked at Simon and Theodore and they nodded.

They quickly grabbed Alvin's arms and pulled up the stairs the rest of the way.

"Just because Dave has to go see a P-sycharist, doesn't mean you two have to turn on me!" Alvin yelled at the top of his lungs.

Simon rolled his eyes. "No more _Animaniacs _for you."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

After Simon and Theodore had managed to get Alvin to calm down, he looked at them with wide eyes.

"Let's never speak of this day again."

"Agreed." Simon and Theodore agreed.

"Oh, and never let me watch Animaniacs again." Alvin got up off the floor and grabbed his baseball bat from the corner. "Let's go play some baseball." He said and his brother's happily complied.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

After all of them had gotten the chance to hit six times, Dave called them in for supper.

Theodore, who had been the closet one to the house, turned to look at his brothers, so he was facing the street. His eyes widened and he pointed toward the corner.

Alvin and Simon missed what he was trying to say and waved at him. Theodore mentally slapped himself and waved his arms around.

Simon seemed to be the first one to catch on. He turned around and his eyes got a wide as his glasses. He poked Alvin in the side and Alvin turned to glare at him. But he stopped when he saw...

Brett Collins was coming down the street on his bike. He had seen the Chipmunks and had a sneer on his face. He had a baseball bat in his hand and the Chipmunks didn't want to find out what he was going to do with it.

Simon was the first one to break out of his trance. He spun on his heal and grabbed Alvin's collar. He briskly walked back toward the house. He would've ran, but Alvin was walking backward.

Alvin seemed to realize this and he quickly turned around. As soon as he did, Simon let go of him and they both took off as fast as they could.

Theodore, who had been watching them with wide eyes, turned around right as Simon and Alvin met him. They broke the door to the house at the same time and landed on the floor, panting.

Dave looked up from the book he was reading, startled.

"What's going on?" He asked as he helped each of the boys up.

Simon, who was the first one up, pointed out the window.

Dave ran to the huge bay window in the kitchen and threw the curtains back.

All three boys on the floor heard a_ twang_ and they flinched. They had heard that sound before.

When Alvin had once found a huge stick in their yard, and had been swinging it around. He had accidentally hit the mailbox and knocked it to the ground.

Their mailbox had just been smashed - vandalized. Just because someone had a problem with them.

* * *

**Once again, please don't tell me that his chapter wasn't as good as the others. I know! Okay, I know. No need to remind me!**

**Please, review! I'm itching to get out the next chapter so I can get the good one's out there. The faster you review, the faster I can release them.**

**rEvIeW**


	11. Phone Calls

**Well, I'm getting this one out a whole lot faster than I anticipated, but after I wrote the Author's Note, my mind wouldn't leave me alone. So I finished the chapter I needed to finish, and here we are.**

**I didn't realize how many people were waiting for me to update. Kudos to those of you who were smart enough to review without signing in. Thank you. And to anyone else who reviewed under their pen names, (I don't know for sure if there are any of you out there) I'm not mad. So you can breath easy again. You'll just have to review without signing in.**

**Well, that's it. Here's your four days ahead of schedule chapter. (Note: This is still one of the worst chapters I've written. The next few are when it gets better.)**

**Disclaimer: Alvin, Simon, Theodore, and Dave Seville along with Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor Miller do not belong to me. The Bagdasarians own them. Any other unrecognizable characters are mine and can be used with my permission.**

* * *

_I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world._

_-__Thomas A. Edison_

* * *

The Chipettes were having a harder time at school now that the Chipmunks were gone. Since the boys weren't there to distract the other kids from them, they were getting all the attention.

And Brittany wasn't happy about it.

"Gah!" She yelled as yet another paper ball hit her in the head. "If someone else so much as thinks about throwing one of those things at me, I'll scream." She hissed under her breath.

Jeanette and Eleanor weren't doing any better. They both looked ready to scream too.

It didn't help that they were going to have to separate in a few minutes. They didn't have to same schedule, like the boys, so they were going to have to endure this torture alone, in about three minutes.

When they managed to get to the class Eleanor was going to have to leave them at, all three looked sorrowful. They didn't want to separate. They were sisters and as such they deserved to stay together.

"Are you going in or not, chipmunk?" They heard a voice sneer from behind them and they turned to see one of their former friends glaring at them. Eleanor nodded and quickly hugged each of her sisters. She then turned and walked into the classroom.

"Now move!" The girl from before said to Brittany and Jeanette. Brittany huffed and turned to glare at the girl. She had had enough. She opened her mouth, but was surprised when someone talked before her.

"Give it a rest, Justine." Jeanette said as she too turned around. "What do you all get from picking on us?"

Justine looked shocked that quiet, shy Jeanette had spoken up. But that look quickly dissolved to a sneer.

"Just go climb a tree." She muttered as she pushed past the two remaining sisters into the classroom.

It wasn't a very good insult. They had heard the same thing over and over again, but it still stung. Jeanette and Brittany looked at each other, holding back tears. And walked down the hallway, where Brittany would drop off Jeanette and make her way to her own classroom.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

Kitty watched the exchange between the two Miller girls and Justine with narrowed eyes. She was going to have to help them. No matter how much Jamie wanted to stay away from these conflicts.

Jamie and she shared the next class with the youngest sister, Eleanor. She liked the small blond girl the best out of the three sisters, mainly because they both shared the same situation. They were both the youngest, but still knew how to stand up for themselves.

She looked at Jamie and nodded. He stifled a groan and rolled his eyes. Did they have to get into this again?

He knew it was the right thing to do, but he still didn't want to stick his nose into someone else's business. They had protected the boys until they had gotten out safely, but the girls were going to be a challenge. He had heard that the middle girl, Brittany, had a bigger mouth than Alvin.

Oh, well.

He ran to catch up to Kitty as she casually walked into the math classroom and sat next to Eleanor. That was one reason why Kitty liked this class. They got to sit anywhere they wanted.

The small girl looked up when she felt someone sit next to her, but her eyes softened when she saw who it was.

"Hi, Kitty. Hi, Jamie." Eleanor said as a small smile touched her lips. She had come to like the brown haired girl and her twin brother, but was still on edge around everyone else. Her eyes kept glancing around the room, looking for anyone who would want to hurt her.

She noticed that almost everyone in the room was glaring at Kitty and Jamie. They were considered the traitors to all these kids.

"Hi, Ellie!" Kitty gushed as she followed Eleanor's eyes. She noticed all the other kids eyes and smiled at them as well. They quickly looked down at their desks.

Eleanor squashed down the urge to roll her eyes. Kitty had an affect on people that she needed to master. The girl always managed to smile at people and make them feel ashamed at the same time.

"Hello, Eleanor." Jamie greeted as he too glanced around the room. He noticed that some of the people were still looking at them, and shot them down with a glare of his own.

Eleanor shook her head and smiled. Somehow, the twin siblings always managed to make her smile.

"We were thinkin'," Kitty told her with a smile, "That you and your sisters could use some help. You know? Until this whole thing blows over."

Eleanor smiled at them and started to nod, but then stopped.

"I'd appreciate that, Jeanette probably would too, but I doubt Brittany would. She's kinda on a high horse right now..."

Kitty rolled her eyes. "I can make her accept help."

"How?" Eleanor asked at the same time Jamie said:

"You can?"

"I have my ways." Kitty replied to Eleanor, totally ignoring Jamie's question.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"So...?" Kitty said later that day. "Are you going to come off your pedestal quietly, or am I going to have to come up there and knock you off?"

Brittany looked appalled that someone had spoken to her like that. She humphed and glared at Kitty.

"Why," She said with a disgusted look on her face, "should I let you help us?"

"Because," Kitty said with a smile, "I can keep all the other kids off your back."

Brittany smirked. "I doubt that." She flipped her hair over her shoulder and turned on her heal. "Now, if you'll excuse me..."

"Actually, I don't excuse you." Kitty said as she grabbed Brittany elbow. She quickly murmured something into her ear and Brittany stiffened.

Kitty backed up and smiled. She knew she had a rare talent to get under people's skin, but she was really proud of herself at that moment.

"Fine." Brittany complied with a sigh.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

_I know I'm going to regret this later._Alvin thought to himself as he forced his fingers to punch the numbers that had been drilled into his head a long time ago. He listened intently as the phone rang, and waited for the inevitable.

Not a lot had happened since Collins had smashed their mailbox. Dave had been furious, but didn't get a good look at the kid, so he couldn't press charges against whoever had done it. He had asked the boys if they knew, but they had stayed tight-lipped.

They knew that things would only get worse if they told Dave about Collins. They still had no idea how he found out where they lived - they were unlisted!!

But that was behind them now. The only thing they could do now was look toward the future, and hope things would get better.

That was why he was making this phone call.

"Hello?" A female voice called from the other end, and Alvin snapped out of his day dreams.

"Hi. This is Al-" He was cut off.

"Brittany!" The voice on the other end called, exasperated. "It's for you!"

There was a bang as a door was slammed, and Alvin could hear the phone changing hands.

"Thanks, Ellie." There was a pause and Alvin could hear Brittany taking a breath. "What do you want, Alvin?"

"Hey, Brittany." Alvin paused to clear his throat nervously. "We wanted to know how things were doing at school..." He trailed off, hoping that Brittany get the message.

"School?" Brittany sounded confused as she paused to think for a moment. "Oho! School! You mean the place where you and your brothers abandoned us?!" Her voice was steadily rising as she spoke. "The place where you left us at the mercy of every worthless, low-life person there?! The place where-" She was abruptly cut off, like someone had placed a hand over her mouth. And from the mumbles coming from the other end, it sounded like someone actually _did_.

After a few seconds of quiet murmuring, Brittany voice came back, and she sounded a lot calmer. "Alvin?" She asked sweetly and Alvin cringed. The calm before the storm. "What do you want to know?"

Alvin sighed and dropped into a chair in relief; she wasn't going to blow. "Um," He pulled on his collar - a habit he had learned from Simon. "Just if you were still getting picked on, and if everyone had seemed to calm down."

Brittany smiled grimly on the other end, and even thought Alvin couldn't see it; he knew she was doing it. "Nothing's changed." She sighed. "We're still getting nasty looks and people still dare to throw things at us. But Kitty and Jamie have agreed to help a little. It's still bad in the classes we don't have them in, but we're surviving."

"So...? Not better?"

"No, Alvin. It's still hard."

"Thanks, Britt." Alvin pulled the phone away from his ear, and moved his finger to terminate the call.

"Wait, Alvin!"

Alvin cringed and put it back up to his ear. "What?"

"Never mind." Brittany hung up the phone before Alvin could say something in return.

* * *

**Sigh. That's all. **

**Hope you liked it. The next chapter should be up sometime next week. If it's not, you all have permission to hit me with mallets and shoot me with comedy cannons.**

**And remember to review! Or I won't update next week.**

**rEvIeW**


	12. Working Together

**Well, my lovely readers. Here's the next chapter.**

**After much debating, I have decided to add another chapter to the end of Cousin Troubles. I had been thinking about it, because the ending wasn't what I wanted it to be, but a recent review I got for that story pushed me over the edge. So keep your eyes peeled.**

**Now, all of you know that I'm not much of a multi-tasker. That's why I don't usually have more than one story running at once. So... this story will not be updated until I get the final chapter of Cousin Troubles out.**

**That being said, I hope you enjoy this chapter and wish me luck with writing the end. **

**This is the beginning of a long line of better chapters, yay!! Also, Alvin's poem. (Rubs Neck) Heh, heh, heh. Don't eat me alive, I am not a poet. **

**Also: This story takes place in 2008. I know, I should put it in the 1980's, but I know more about 2008 than I do the 1980's. Especially if you take into account that I was born in 1993. **

**Warning: Alvin, Simon, and Theodore may seem OOC in this chapter. Don't worry, it won't last long. **

**I do have a question though: Does anyone know what it means to be a staple character?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Chipmunks, Chipettes, their caretakers, or any of the other characters created by Ross Bagdasarian. I do own any other unrecognizable characters, and can be used with my permission. (I promised myself that this would be an OC less story, but it didn't pan out that way.)**

**Thanks to my beta and friend Kitty Seville!**

* * *

_A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.  
**-Dwight D. Eisenhower**_

* * *

"I can't take it anymore!!" Alvin yelled, throwing his arms up in the air and looking at the celling. "I need to get out of this house! I've been looking at the same five faces for the past three days, and it's killing me!" He dropped onto the couch and Simon rolled his eyes.

"There's only four of us in the house." He pointed out.

Alvin's eyes widened. "I've forgotten how to count! What's next?!" He dropped onto his stomach and grumbled under his breath.

Simon ignored him and looked intently at the piece of paper in front of him.

"Alvin?" He asked, interrupting Alvin while he was silently cursing the person who put the stupid homeschooling idea in Dave's head. "Did you write the poem that's due today?"

Alvin slowly raised his head and looked at Simon, clearly irritated. "Duh." He dropped his head, and started grumbling again - his words being muffled by the couch.

Simon sighed and his eyebrows came together. He was having trouble with the last line...

XxXxXxXXxXxX

"Okay guys." Dave said later that day, while trying to act like a teacher. He wasn't succeeding. "Who wants to read their poem first?"

Simon raised a hand and pointed at Alvin.

"I'm sure Alvin would_ love _to read us his poem, especially since he finished his _way_ before me."

Alvin sent him a glare that would've made a weaker man/boy/chipmunk cringe, but Simon stood firm with a smirk on his face.

Dave turned to Alvin and crossed his arms. "Did he now? Well, go ahead Alvin. Let's hear it."

Alvin cringed and stood up.

"A Cat and a Hat" He said the title with as much dignity as he could muster.

Dave and Theodore groaned while Simon stuck his hands under his glasses and covered his eyes.

"This should be good." He muttered as he rubbed his eyes.

Alvin took that as an invitation to begin.

"There once was a cat named Sheryl.  
And she lived in a barrel.  
She scavenged for food  
And she was rude.

"Sheryl grabbed my hat off my head  
And wore it to bed.  
I went after my hat  
And that dang cat.

"She did not like it when I trashed her barrel.  
She did not like at all, that Sheryl.

"Then, I-" He was cut off.

"That's enough, Alvin." Dave said as he waved his hand.

"Thank you, Dr. Seuss." Simon mumbled under his breath, and Alvin turned to glare at him.

"Haha. You're a riot." He mumbled as he dropped back into his seat.

Dave sighed. "Okay, Theodore. You go next."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The next day, Alvin refused to get out of bed.

"You better get up, Alvin." Theodore said after he and Simon were both dressed. "Dave looked really mad."

Alvin groaned and rolled over.

"Theo...Dave... head... hot... sick."

Theodore's eyes widened when he realized what Alvin was saying. He ran over to Alvin's bad and placed a hand on his forehead.

"Jeeze! You're burning up!" He yelled as he jerked his hand away. He quickly turned and bolted out the door - yelling Dave's name.

Alvin sighed and sunk lower in the bed.

"So." Simon said as he came out of the corner he had blended in to. Alvin jumped and nearly fell out of the bed. "Your playing sick. Why?" He walked toward Alvin's bed and pulled his glasses off to clean them.

"I don't know what your talking about, Simon." Alvin replied as he tried to cough convincingly. It came out as a wheeze.

"Don't play dumb with me." Simon said as he place his glasses back on his nose. "I saw-"

"What if I told you I wan't playing?" Alvin interupted him, but Simon ignored him.

"- you put that heating pad on your forehead. And I know you already have a hot water bottle under the covers for the thermometer."

Alvin glanced around and listened intently. When he heard nothing, he quickly threw back the covers, - revealing a hot water bottle in the process - hopped out of bed, and ran to close the bedroom door.

"Okay." He said to Simon's smirking face. "You caught me. Are you going to tell Dave?"

Simon's smirk was replaced by a fake hurt look. "I am hurt, Alvin." He said imitating the red capped Chipmunk's voice. "Why would I tattle on you? I'm bigger than that."

"Well then," Alvin replied as he got back into the bed. "What do you want?"

Simon's smirk returned and his eyes flashed. "I know you know the fastest ways around town-"

"Yeah, so?"

"- And I know you want to know how things are doing at the school as much as I do."

Alvin shrugged.

"I want you to go check it out. We need to know if things have gotten any better."

"I already talked to Brittany. She said things haven't changed." Alvin said as he inconspicuously tried to inch away from Simon. His bespectacled brother had been watching him more closely than he had realized.

Simon really wanted him to sneak away and tresspass on school property. That was so un-Simon like, he was ready to agree at once, but he still had to fight it. If Simon knew he would agree to anything right away, he would take advantage of him more often.

"She could've lied." Simon argued as he jumped onto his own bed. "I talked to Jeanette. She's sensed a change. A lot of the other students have stopped picking on them, even when Kitty and Jamie aren't around."

"She's _sensed _a change? What is she?! A physic?! Simon you really need to talk to someone else. _She's sensed a change_." He rolled his eyes, and layed back in the bed.

"Well, do you want to find out or not?" Simon asked as he jumped off his bed to walk out the door. "Or are you too scared?" He asked the last part in a voice you would use when talking to a baby.

Alvin rolled his eyes. He knew Simon had a chess-master mind, but he was hitting all of his weak points. The next thing he knew, Simon would be challenging his-

"You don't want me to tell Brittany that you were too scared to make a little outing, do you?"

- Pride.

"Since when do you take the low blows?" Alvin asked as he crossed his arms.

"Since our mailbox got smashed, and if I may be frank-"

"As long as I can still be Alvin."

"- I'm worried about the girls." Simon continued, totally ignoring Alvin's comment.

Alvin chose not to comment on that statement. He was worried about the girls too, a little. He knew they could take care of themselves, but they all had breaking points.

"And I take it, from your silence, you're worried too." Simon muttered as he made his way past Alvin's bed.

"Maybe." Alvin mumbled.

"If you decided to do it, I'll try to keep Dave in the dark and from coming to check on you. I might even get Theodore to help also."

Alvin sighed and thought it over for about three seconds. "Fine. I'll leave at around noon. I'll need time to prepare."

Simon smiled. "Thanks, Alvin. I know-"

"What are you thanking me for? I was thinking about doing this anyway. Why do you think I was playing sick?"

Simon resisted the urge to let out a comment that would crush his brother's ego, and decided to roll his eyes instead.

"Whatever." He called back to Alvin as he opened the door.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

After Dave had taken Alvin's temperature, he had officially declared him too "sick" to participate in "school."

Simon had had to bite his tounge at least three times durning that whole conversation. Alvin was sure getting off easy, but, now that he thought about it, so were they.

All they had to do today was a few worksheets and read a section out of the science and history text books. Dave didn't want to give them too much work that Alvin wouldn't be able to catch up on.

After he had assigned everything, Dave had excused himself to his study - where he would start work on his next song. He had assumed Simon could make sure Theodore did all his work, and he knew Simon was almost done when he had left. Plus, Simon made a better teacher than him any day.

But, with Dave out of his sight, Simon had found complications. There was no way he would be able to know when Dave went to check on Alvin. Unless, he sat right in front of the study door, or watched the hallway intently. But, he knew Theodore would never go for that. His smallest brother would want to hang out downstairs.

Simon sighed and rubbed his temples. He knew he was going to have to tell Theodore, but he didn't realize it was going to be _this_ hard.

"Um, Theodore." Simon said to his little brother. The green eyed Chipmunk looked up at him.

"Yes, Simon?" He asked.

"Alvin's not really sick."

"Thought so." Simon's jaw dropped.

"What?!" He spluttered.

"I kinda suspected he was playing sick. Especially when you stopped Dave from going up there earlier. I knew if he was sick, you would be in our room trying to diagnose him."

Simon sighed. Theodore knew him all too well.

"Okay." He said as he rubbed Theodore on the head. "You're more perceptive than I thought, but do you want to know _why_ he's acting, or did you already figure _that_ out too?"

Theodore's eyes widened and he shook his head so fast it became a blur. "Why?"

"Well," Simon began re-telling what he and Alvin had discussed.

XxXxXxXxXxXXxX

"So?" Simon asked when he finished. "Will you help us?"

Theodore smiled. "Of course."

"Excellent!" He put his hand up for Theodore to slap, but stopped when he heard Dave moving around in the hallway. After all those years of listening to Alvin sneak around, it was finally paying off to have very sensitive ears. They all did, but Simon's were more attuned to listening to almost silent foot-falls on carpet.

"Dave's going to check on Alvin!" Simon whispered to Theodore quickly. "You go find a way to make it look like Alvin's in bed, and I'll try to stall him as long as I can."

Theodore nodded in agreement and they both bounded up the stairs as quietly as they could.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Hey, Dave!" Simon yelled as he skidded around the corner, almost tripping in the process.

"Simon!" Dave called out in alarm as he stooped to catch his oldest son before he hit the ground. "Why aren't you downstairs with Theodore?"

Simon opened his mouth to reply, waiting for his brain to supply a response.

It didn't let him down.

"We both finished. I came to get you to check everything over." It was partly true. He had made sure Theodore was finished with everything before he told him anything.

Dave looked at him suspiciously. "Okay, but let me check on Alvin first."

Simon cleared his throat nervously and gazed up at Dave. "Dave." He said in a conceding tone. "We should let Alvin rest. We shouldn't interrupt his much needed sleep."

Dave's eyes narrowed. "If I know Alvin, he's probably awake playing with his PSP."

"No he's not," Simon mumbled, "He lost it."

"What's that?" Dave asked in alarm, and Simon smushed the smirk coming to his lips. It worked!

"Nothing Dave." Simon replied as he let the line out a little. He knew that at any moment, Dave would bite.

"Now, Simon, I think I heard what you said. But I'm not sure, tell me again."

Bingo. Hook, line, and sinker.

"Nothing, just that Alvin won't be playing his PSP."

"Why not?" Dave asked as he stopped and turned to look at Simon.

"He, um, lost it." Simon replied, hoping that Dave wouldn't barge into their room to look for the PSP, and just find it on the dresser. That was exactly where Alvin left it.

Dave started mumbling under his breath. Simon only heard part of it. Something about "killing Alvin" and "teaching him the value of a dollar"

Dave turned and started back toward the room that the boys shared.

Simon bit back a shriek of frustration and bolted in front of Dave.

"Let me get the door for you." He said, hoping his voice wasn't shaking. "I hope ALVIN is SLEEPING." He stressed the two most important words in that sentence and opened the door slowly, peeking in before Dave could see.

It looked like it had this morning. There was even a lump were Alvin was supposed to be!!

"Simon. Enough stalling, let me in." Dave pushed past Simon and stormed into the room, ready to tear the Chipmunk asleep to pieces about a missing PSP.

Simon walked in behind Dave, as slow as possible. Dave had walked in so fast, that he had missed the portable electronic on the dresser. Simon quickly picked the PSP up and stuck it in his pocket. There was no need to tell Dave how it had gotten back into the room.

"Alvin." Dave called to the form under the red checkered bedspread. "What's this I hear about a missing PSP?"

The form shifted and a red capped head poked out.

"What Dave?" The voice was a little too high, but it seemed like the person under the covers was really trying, and maybe Dave would pass it off as Alvin being sick.

"Someone just told me that you lost your PSP." Dave replied with a pointed look at Simon.

The little chipmunk under the covers threw a glare at Simon and Simon silently held in a smirk. He was _so_ glad that he had an almost identical brother that could act...

Dave saw the look the Chipmunk under the covers threw at Simon and noticed his eyes.

"Alvin?" He asked and the little Chipmunk looked up at him. "Why are your eyes green?"

Theodore's eyes widened and Simon panicked. He jumped from his spot and ran in front of Dave.

"What are you talking about Dave?" Simon asked as he stood in front of Dave and covered Theodore from view.

"His eyes were green." Dave replied as he tried to push Simon out of the way to get a better look at the small capped head under the covers.

"No, they're not." Simon replied as he pushed Dave up. "How much coffee did you have this morning?" He asked as he pushed Dave toward the door.

"Three cups. Two before you got up and one after I found out about Alvin."

"Well, Dave. The caffeine is clearly affecting you." Simon said in a soothing voice. "Why don't you go lay down for a few minutes?"

Dave sighed and shook his head. "You're probably right, Simon." He replied as he glanced down at his eldest. Simon's gray eyes widened. It was_ too_ easy. "There's no way Alvin's eyes changed color, plus, I know Theodore's probably downstairs waiting for me to check over your work."

Simon heard the little form under the covers stifle a gasp and hoped Dave didn't hear it.

Thankfully, Dave either didn't hear it, or passed it off as the wind coming in through the open window. "I'll go check over your work and then go lie down for a while." Dave said as he broke the doorway and walked down the hallway.

Simon sighed and slid to the ground with his back against the wall. He watched as Theodore threw the covers off and placed Alvin's old hat back in the closet.

"That was close." The green clad Chipmunk said as he slid down beside his brother.

"Yeah." Simon replied as he cradled his head in his hands. "It's a really good thing we're so identical, or else you wouldn't have been able to pull that off. That and the glare you sent me. For a second there, you looked just like Alvin."

Theodore beamed. "Well, I'm sure you can do it as well as me, if not better."

Simon rolled his eyes and got up. "We better get downstairs." He said as he reached a hand out to help Theodore up. "Dave's going to be getting suspicious since your not there."

Theodore nodded and used Simon's hand to help him up. "I was in the bathroom." He said as they made their way down the hallway, and Simon nodded, happy with Theodore's cover story.

* * *

**I don't know about all of you, but I think that is the best chapter to date. I love this one! So, if I get one negative review about this chapter, I'll tear you apart. (I take criticism with open arms, but negativity, no.)**

**Please review! Please, please, please!**

**rEvIeW!!**


	13. Jaunt

**Finally, I'm back!!**

**Public announcement!! Everyone is going to have to get used to updates every few days, or even every few weeks. I started summer band last week and haven't had any time to write. My first day as a Freshman in high school is in two weeks, also. So I won't be able to update that often anymore.**

**The chapter before this one, this chapter, and the next one all happen at around the same time, so they overlap. **

**Enjoy. (Yes, I know, there's no quote. But I was in a huge hurry to get this out. I might put one on there later if I find time and the right quote.)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my own characters. I think you can figure out which are mine and which aren't. **

* * *

"Okay, Alvin." Dave said as he came back into the bedroom and grabbed the thermometer out of his mouth. "You can't get out of this bed until this fever goes down, capise?"

Alvin nodded and mentally smirked. Perfect.

Right after Dave left, Alvin put a hand to his forehead. It was cool. The fever was officially down. He could now get out of bed.

Alvin threw his blankets back and carefully slid off the bed. He didn't want to make any unnecessary noise that would alert Dave. He quickly pulled on a pair of socks, to muffle the sounds of his feet walking across the wood floor.

As he padded across the floor, Alvin grabbed a duffel bag and Simon's trench coat. He stuffed his hat into the bag, along with a pair of shoes and an old piece of cloth. He then threw on his sweat shirt and opened the window.

Alvin cringed when the un-oiled hinges shrieked as he pushed it. Hopefully Simon would be able to distract Dave from the sound.

When the window was finally open, Alvin knew there was no way that Simon could've kept Dave from hearing that. It was only a matter of time before Dave came stomping up the stairs, demanding to know what that noise was.

Alvin glanced around the room one more time, making sure he didn't forget anything. When he was satisfied, he hopped onto the sill, his socked feet landing softly. He then, carefully jumped into the tree on the side of the house. (A/N: It's amazing isn't it? How I can make a tree appear just for this part of the story?) He grabbed onto the trunk and slid down as quietly as he could.

When he reached the base of the tree, he looked around and silently gasped. Dave was right next to the window! His back was turned and he seemed to be arguing with Simon about something. Simon glanced around Dave and saw Alvin. His eyes widened and he gestured wildly, telling his to get out of there.

Dave looked Simon with narrowed eyes and turned. There was something going on outside the window.

Alvin saw Dave's pivot and quickly dived into a bush right under the window. Hopefully, Simon could get Dave away from the window long enough for him to get away.

After about five minutes, Alvin dared a look up. It seemed Dave had escaped to his study. He had apparently assigned Simon and Theodore some work and had left, not wanting to deal with Simon at the moment. The eldest brother had seemed to take on a few of Alvin's unsavory characteristics lately, and Dave had no idea why.

But Alvin had no time to examine the room any longer. Simon had felt his younger brother's eyes on his back and and given him a glare. Alvin had taken that glare with open arms and returned it good naturedly, then ran off down the street.

Alvin paused after he had gotten around the corner, and pulled his shoes and hat on. He knew his hat and sweat shirt were dead give aways, but it was hot and he didn't want to pull on the trench coat just yet.

As he made his way down the sidewalk, he thought about how he could get to the school faster. It was just down the road, - they used to walk there almost everyday last year- but he didn't feel like walking in the hot sun.

He could catch a bus, but then he would be stared at. He could go back to the house and get his bike, but then he would have to leave it behind when he got to the school. He was either going to have to hitch-hike or walk. Hitch-hiking didn't sound like a good idea. He was a big star and you could never tell who was a psychopath and who wasn't.

Alvin sighed when he realized he only had one option left. He was going to have to punish his feet and walk. But, when Simon had said he knew the fastest ways around town, he wasn't lieing; he knew plenty of shortcuts to get to the school, but it was still a pretty long distance.

Oh, well.

Alvin sighed once again and continued on his way. There was nothing he could do now.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

When Alvin was about five minutes away from the school, he officially declared himself "exhausted". But there was no time to lose. He had been gone for about an half hour now, and he knew Dave would be up to check on him any time now. He silently hoped that Simon could handle Dave, because if he couldn't they were as good as dead.

Alvin glanced around the tree he hand been hiding behind, but quickly pulled his head back when he saw someone coming toward the tree. He cringed and looked the sky. Why did everything have to happen to him?

There was only one way out of this. While, Alvin rolled his eyes at the redundancy of this situation, he hugged the bag to his chest with one arm. He then used the other to grab the branch right above him. He strained to pull himself up into the tree with one arm, but managed to accomplish it with out pulling his it out of the socket.

When he had gotten high enough, he looked around. The man that had been coming toward the tree had turned back around and was heading back in the direction of the school. Alvin slapped himself on the forehead and swayed a little. He scrambled to re-grab the branch.

When he managed to steady himself once more, Alvin concluded that climbing the tree hadn't been a _total_ waste. He could see in every direction, and it looked like the whole town was asleep. No one was walking around, but he passed that off as it being early afternoon, all the kids were in school and the adults were at work.

Alvin looked around one more time before he climbed back down. There was no need for him to be caught before he even tried.

When he had given himself the all clear, Alvin quickly dropped the bag to the ground and he followed soon after. He then opened the bag and pulled out the coat. It was big enough to cover his whole body, but short enough on the bottom that he wouldn't trip over it. He could tell that Simon had cut most of the bottom off after he had tripped and tumbled down the stairs, but it was still perfect.

Alvin pulled the old cloth out of the bag next and tied it around his mouth and nose. He knew he probably looked like a homeless person, but he had to cover his face, or his cover would be blown.

Alvin desperately wanted to see what he looked like. He needed to see if this get-up was too outrageous to fool anyone. If it was, he wasn't even going to bother being within five feet of the school.

Alvin bent down and riffled through the bag. He knew he had forgotten a mirror but maybe there was something else shinny or ever slightly mirror-ish that he could see himself in.

He nearly jumped for joy when he found out that last person to use this bag had been himself, and that he had accidentally left his watch in it. It was just shinny enough that he could see his face. He cringed when he saw the black cloth covering his face, there was no way this was going to work. His eyes were too recognizable. No one else in the school had the same crystal clear blue color that he did. What was he going to do?

Alvin sighed and put the watch back into the bag. He had no idea what he was going to do. The trench coated Chipmunk put a hand on his head and he realized that his hat was still there. Well, at least _that_ won't give him away. He pulled the cap off his head and stuffed it into the bag with the watch.

As he sat there, Alvin thought about what he was doing. Who was he kidding? No one would fall for this outfit anyway. Even if he managed to infiltrate the school, the teachers would demand he take off the coat and cloth. He could say they were part of his religion, but that was crossing a line even _he_ didn't dare getting close to.

But then he thought of Brittany. She always carried make-up with her. Maybe she could help disguise him. Yeah!! She could put some of that gunk on his fur to make him look paler. And he could make his voice deeper...

That could work, but how was he going to find her? He knew her class had recess right after lunch, and that had long since passed...

Alvin leaned back on the tree and sighed in desperation. He was going to have to wait for tomorrow. There was no way to get to Brittany, get her to agree, let her dress him up and paint his fur with that junk - he cringed -, and get into the school before the day was over.

But he could do it if she agreed and he managed to sneak out early tomorrow. Oh, wait, tomorrow was Saturday. He smiled. Now he had more time to get her to agree.

With those thoughts spinning in his head, Alvin tore off the coat and cloth, threw them into the bag, and plopped his hat on his head. He then placed the bag's strap on his shoulder and took off for his home.

* * *

**Bleh. I don't really like this chapter. It's mainly action (meaning, movement and thinking), no dialogue. So, please excuse the bad writing. **

**Please review. And I'll try to update as fast as possible. Please!!**

**rEvIeW!!**


	14. Cleaning Up

**Okay, here's the deal. **

**I am updating now, because I can and because I am sick and tired of getting reviews saying that Alvin is the oldest. I KNOW THIS!! I made Simon the oldest because its my story, because it seems right for the atmosphere in this story, and I just wanted to. **

**I know it reads weird, and I'm used to putting Alvin the oldest. I have gotten into the pattern of saying that Alvin is the oldest, but I wanted to experiment. So please, stop telling me that he is the oldest. **

**Didn't I already cover this anyway, like 12 chapters back? Do you people who keep telling me Alvin's the oldest not read the Author's Notes? Well, you need to start. If I get one more review saying that Alvin's the oldest, I'm gonna scream. It's a waste of review space and a waste of my time. Why would I want to read a review telling me somthing I already know when I can be reading a review telling me where I can improve?**

**Anyway, I'm done with my rant. So, please, stop. **

**Enjoy the chapter. Only problem with updating now: It's gonna be even longer before the next chap gets out, but I think it's a fair trade.**

**Enjoy. (Once again, no quote.)**

**Disclaimer: Look back at chapter 13. **

* * *

Alvin managed to sneak back into the room he shared with his brothers unnoticed. As he silently slipped back into bed, he couldn't help but let his mind wander.

_What if Brittany doesn't want to help? What if Dave won't let me leave the house tomorrow? What if Simon...?_

There were too many "what ifs" in this situation. He was just going to have to see how things play out and live with the results.

With those positive thoughts in his head, he couldn't help letting his mind examine everything that had happened in the past month.

First, the science book episode, then Brett Collins, next Dave pulling them out of school, and finally Simon using mind games to get Alvin to do his will. It was too much. He tried to remember when things were normal, and was surprised when nothing automatically sprang into his head. They had always been doing something unbelievable. Balloon races around the world, fighting with huge monsters, and even meeting the Queen of England. (An: Reference to an episode.) Then there was the whole 'alien' incident where he was left alone and cleaned up the whole house just to have two FBI agents mess it up. (An: Reference to Grounded Chipmunk.)

Alvin's eye lids started to droop while he was lost in his memories. His brain was exhausted from all the stress of the past few weeks and his body was tired from running around all day.

The last thing he saw before his eyes closed and he fell into a deep sleep was the light flicking on above him.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

"Simon." Dave muttered though clenched teeth. "Quit stalling and let me up the stairs. I need to check Alvin's temperature."

Simon nervously pushed his glassed back up his nose and cleared his throat. "What are you talking about Dave? I'm not stalling. Theodore and I really need your help cleaning up the kitchen." Simon mentally slapped himself. Dave wasn't stupid. He had just been in the kitchen and it was spotless.

Around the corner, Theodore did slap his forehead. Of all the excuses Simon could come up with, _that _was the best he could do? The stress of the past month was clearly getting to him. Theodore sighed and turned back toward the kitchen. Might as well make Simon's lie a believable one.

"Simon, I was just in the kitchen. It's fine. Now let me through." Dave made a move to pick Simon up and place him behind him, but Simon dodged and jumped to stand back in front of Dave. "Plus, why would you need my help?" Dave asked as he glared at Simon for jumping out of the way. "You and Theodore are perfectly capable of cleaning it up yourselves." Dave moved to step around Simon again, but the bespectacled Chipmunk jumped in front of him.

"Dave? Do you realize how tall the cupboards are? And how tall we are? There's no way we could reach the top of those things to clean off all the food that was splattered there."

Dave rolled his eyes and stifled the groan that bubbled to his lips. "I'll help after I take Alvin's temp-" He was cut off by a loud buzzing noise from the direction of the kitchen. After a few seconds, it stopped and there was a loud _oof_ and splattering sound.

Dave immediately threw the thermometer at Simon. He spun on his heel and called over his shoulder.

"You go check on Alvin, I'm gonna go make sure Theodore's okay."

Simon released the breath he didn't realize he was holding and slowly made his way up the stairs. At this rate, he was going to have gray lacing his fur by the time he hit twelve.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

When Simon opened the door to the bedroom, he groaned. Alvin was back. He had made a complete fool of himself for no reason.

As Simon flipped on the light, he saw Alvin's eyes closing and sighed. At least his smaller brother was trying to make it seem like he was sick.

Simon decide to let Alvin be and grabbed the hot water bottle sitting in a bowl on the floor. He opened it quickly, stuck the thermometer in the top, and let his gray eyes casually examine the room.

Alvin had dumped the bag he had used on his trip in the middle of the room. Simon rolled his eyes and kicked it in the closet, no need for Dave to get suspicious.

When he looked back at the bottle, his eyes nearly bugged out. It was way to hot. He snatched the thermometer out of the bottle and shook it to get it from 106 degrees Fahrenheit (41 Celsius) to 101 (38 Celsius).

When he was happy with it, he closed the bottle and stuck it back into the bowl before sliding it under his bed. Now that he could let Dave back up here, that would have to hidden.

He then looked around for the black rag he had left on the ground, but it was no where to be found. Simon sighed and opened the closet. He unzipped the bag and rifled through. He wasn't surprised that he found the rag in the bag. Alvin was clearly going to use it to cover his face.

When Simon had the rag, he pulled the water bottle out from under his bed and poured a little water on the black piece of cloth over the bowl. He pushed the bowl back under his bed and slowly walked toward Alvin.

He then placed the rag on Alvin's forehead - so it would be warm when Dave came up - and left it there while he finished cleaning up from Alvin's escapade. Simon shook his head as he picked up Alvin's pajamas and stuffed them into one of the drawers on their dresser. It would've been obvious that Alvin had been out of bed if his pajamas were laying around.

Simon examined the room one more time and nodded, satisfied. Everything seemed to be how they had left it this morning. Dave shouldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

With one final glance around the room, Simon turned to look out the door. No one seemed to be coming, so he ran over to Alvin and grabbed the moist cloth on his head. He plopped in into the bowl with a muffled 'splash' and slid the bowl back under his bed for the umpteenth time that day.

After a while, he heard someone come pounding up the stairs. He quickly ran to the door and stuck his head out. Dave rounded the corner, with a pudding covered Theodore following close behind.

"Dave?" Theodore asked as he grabbed their adopted father's hand. "Can't Alvin wait? I'm really sticky." Simon smirked. Theodore was still trying to stall.

"No, Theodore. You go into the bathroom and wash off. I'll be in there in a minute to take your clothes."

Theodore opened his mouth to say something else, but Simon caught his eye and winked. Theodore nodded slightly, moving his head about an inch, and walked past the bedroom into the bathroom.

Simon slipped out the door with the thermometer in hand and stood in front of Dave. "Here's the thermometer, Dave. Alvin's asleep, so I had trouble getting it into his mouth."

Dave nodded, took the offered measuring tool, and gazed at it.

"Ninety- nine degrees. He seems to be getting better."

Simon sighed. He knew Alvin would want to make a miraculous recovery tomorrow, but he thought that a gradual decrease in temperature would suffice just fine.

Dave opened the door and walked past Simon into the room. When Simon stuck his head in the door, he wasn't surprised to see Alvin sitting up, looking around stupidly.

"H-hey, Dave." He stuttered and Simon rolled his eyes. "What's up?"

Dave ignored him and placed a hand on his forehead. "You're still a little warm..." Dave said to himself as he pulled his hand away.

As Dave played doctor, Alvin kept glancing back and forth between Simon and Dave. But soon, after Dave had established that Alvin would be fine in the morning, something crept back into Dave's mind that he had forgotten.

"So, Alvin?" He asked as Alvin's attention was pulled to Dave's face. "What's this I hear about a lost PSP?"

Simon's eyes widened as he stuffed his hands in his pockets to retrieve the portable electronic he had threw in earlier that day.

"I didn't lose it Dave." Alvin said as he kept his blue eyes trained on the man standing in front on him, giving Simon a chance to get the PSP back into place. "It's right there on the dresser." Alvin finally pulled his eyes away from Dave's face and pointed at the newly placed PSP.

Dave slowly turned around and his eyes narrowed when he saw the electronic sitting there.

"It wasn't there this morning." He said to himself as he glanced between two of his sons and the PSP.

"You must've missed it, Dave." Simon said with a shrug as he hopped up onto his bed.

"Must have." Dave said, totally out of it. Suddenly, he snapped back to attention and looked at Alvin. "Well, you'll be fine in the morning, so get some sleep." With that he turned and left the room.

Simon examined Alvin as he slumped back.

"So, what did you find out?" He asked after a while.

"Nothing." Alvin replied as he closed his eyes.

"Excuse me?"

"I didn't go into the school. My outfit was too noticeable, so I figured I'd get Brittany to help me."

Simon didn't dare ask how Brittany would help him. Knowing Alvin, it would be something outrageous that would never work.

So instead of ask what he was going to do, Simon opened his mouth the change the subject.

Alvin beat him to it. "What possessed you to tell Dave that I had lost my PSP?"

* * *

**Well, what do you think? I realize it was a little on the short side, but... I have no excuse. I just didn't want this one to be too long.**

**I don't know if anyone has noticed this, but this story doesn't have that many cliff hangers, if any. I plan to change that in the near future.**

**Please, please, please review!! Please?! Just don't tell me the unspeakable subject. (Look at top if you have no idea what I'm talking about)**

**rEvIeW!!**


	15. Conditions

**Welp. Here's the next one. IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE!! **

**Now, I will now officially declare that the Chipmunks will be slightly OOC from this point on. Before you bite my head off, please let me defend myself. **

**You see, in this fic, the boys have gone through a lot, and it has affected them. They will still have their most important personality traits, but a few things have been changed in the process of coping with all of this. For example, Theodore will still be his cute, butterball self. But he won't be as gullible as before. He will also be figuring stuff out right next to his brothers, so if you see him taking action in a situation that he would not have even thought about before, that's why. He will still be his self. Just with a few changes. I kinda overshadowed this a bit in the last chapter with the pudding fiasco in the kitchen. He was showing a lot of attentiveness at the fact that Simon needed Dave in the kitchen. But he went about getting that attention in a clearly Theodore way. **

**That being said, I hope I put out my reasons in a way you can understand them. **

**Also, I'm gonna attatch a game to this. Whoever can point out the Animaniacs refrence, get's something. I haven't figured it out yet. I'm leaning toward a little role in the story. It won't be huge, but you'll be in there, and that's what counts. **

**Please enjoy the chapter and remember to review, please!! (You might as well get used to there not being quotes. I don't have time to find them.)**

**Disclaimer: No! I don't own them, get used to it!! **

* * *

The next morning, Alvin and Simon were exhausted. Alvin had woken Simon up in the middle of the night, and they had stayed up talking until five A.M.

When they managed to stumble down the stairs on that Saturday morning, Dave didn't notice the huge bags under their eyes.

"So...? What do you have planned for today, fellas?"

Simon yawned as he sat at the table. "We were going to go see the girls."

Dave nodded and put his paper down the dig into the eggs sitting on the plate in front of him. "That's good; you need to get out of the house."

Alvin rolled his eyes and grabbed a few french toast sticks from the huge pan sitting the middle of the table. He had had enough time out of the house for the next week yesterday.

They sat in comfortable silence until Theodore came down the stairs slowly and quietly. As he walked past the refrigerator, he grabbed a can of soda out of it.

"Theodore." Dave said with a warning tone in his voice. "You know you're not allowed to drink soda for breakfast."

Theodore popped open the can as his mind raced for an excuse. But his mind wasn't ready for racing just yet; it was running at a snail's pace. "Um..." He said. After a few seconds of silence from him, Dave raised an eyebrow. Theodore sighed, took a big swing of the carbonated drink, and set it on the counter so he could grab it later.

Dave watched his youngest son walk sluggishly toward the table. It seemed that both of his relatively calm sons were starting to take on Alvin's bad habits.

"Guys?" He asked and three sets of eyes, all different colors, looked up at him. "What's going on? You all seem to be getting more irritable."

Theodore looked up at Dave. "If this is about the soda, I just needed some caffeine to keep me awake."

Dave shook his head. A few weeks ago, Theodore would've never needed caffeine to stay awake. He always managed to fall asleep and stay asleep, no matter what his brothers were doing.

But it seemed that last night, Simon and Alvin had been talking again. Theodore must've heard it and had stayed awake to listen.

"That's not all I'm talking about." He glanced around at all three pairs of eyes. The green ones looked like they would fill with tears if he didn't say this right. The gray ones looked apprehensive, and as Dave looked at the face that belonged to the eyes, he couldn't help but see that Simon had changed a little more than he had noticed. The blue ones looked angry that Dave was talking about this _now. _And Dave couldn't help but notice that Alvin seemed more protective over his brothers, even if Simon was older than him. "All three of you have changed."

"Can you blame us, Dave?" Simon asked and Dave noticed his eyes flick to Alvin. Alvin met his gaze for about half a second and Dave saw him nod. Why hadn't he noticed these things before? All three boys seemed closer. Alvin and Simon weren't fighting anymore, and Theodore was always shadowing one of them, not going off on his own anymore. They also never seemed to be apart.

"Yeah, Dave." Alvin said and his eyes bored into Dave's own. Out of the corner of his eye, Dave saw Simon lean over to Theodore and whisper something in his ear. Dave resisted rolling his eyes. When did they come up with this strategy?

"We've gone through so much in the past few weeks. Did you think it wouldn't affect us?" Simon asked as he took over his job as the group mouthpiece.

Dave sighed. "I didn't think you would change _this_ much."

"How much did we change?" Theodore asked as his eyes took on a watered look.

Dave sighed, he hadn't wanted to make them upset. "Never mind. Just finish eating. I'll drive you to the girl's."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

When the boys were getting out of the car, Dave couldn't help and see if Alvin had bothered to look over the work he had to make up.

"Alvin?" He asked and the red capped boy glanced up at him. "What can you tell me about the scientists of the ninteenth century?"

Alvin put a hand on his chin in thought. "They're all dead."

Dave groaned. "No."

"Okay then, they're all living." Alvin smiled as Dave's eyes narrowed.

"No."

Alvin smiled and turned on his heel. He had successfully manged to get Dave frustrated.

_I can't believe Alvin's still like that. Most people would've out grown that kind of behavior with all that they had gone through. _Dave sighed as the thoughts spun through his head. _But, then again, Alvin isn't most people. _

XxXxXxXxXxX

"So...?" Alvin asked as he looked at the wall behind Brittany's head. "Will you help?"

Brittany glared at the Chipmunks sitting across from her and sighed. "Alvin." She raised up her hand and opened her mouth. "Why should _I_ help _you_?"

Alvin gulped and glanced behind him to look at Simon and Theodore. His brothers were in their own conversation, but he could only hear snippets of what they were saying. _"He's going down... gonna do?... Brittany's not heartless... Hungry... not now... plan B... stomach hurts... Theodore, later... Simon... No!... Any ideas?... Dave wouldn't let me go hun-... Not. Now. Theodore. ... But Simon... "_

Alvin couldn't help but smile at the conversation. But when he looked back at Brittany's fierce expression, he couldn't help but let that smile drop.

"Because, I know your not entirely heartless," Alvin replied to Brittany's earlier question, quoting Simon. He felt a quick jab in his back, and knew Simon didn't approve. "Besides, I know you need a strong boy to protect you." He wagged his eyebrows and Brittany rolled her eyes.

"If there's one here, please tell me, so I can ask him to help." She replied sarcastically.

Alvin fumed for half a second and then whimpered. "Please, Brittany?!" He yelled as he fell to his knees, dropping the calm facade. "I need to go to school!! I've been in the house long enough!" He ended up on his stomach with his arms around Brittany's ankles. "Please?" He asked, his voice muffled by her shoe.

Brittany pretended to contemplate it for a moment. "Does letting go of legs come in the deal?"

"Yes." Alvin answered. Brittany moved her leg and his head landed on the floor with a muted _thud, _but he still kept his vice like grip on her legs. "Ow." He muttered, ten seconds after his head hit.

"Fine. Now, can I have my leg back?"

Alvin automatically let go of her and jumped up. "Hah!" He barked. "Who knew I could act?"

Simon, Theodore, Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor all rolled their eyes.

"That was acting?" Brittany scoffed. "More like sucking up." She flipped her hair over her shoulder and turned. "I'll help. But on one condition."

"You never said there was a condition!" Alvin yelled as he dashed in front of her.

"It was implied." Brittany moved around him in one graceful movement, and went out the doorway.

"Implied?!" Alvin ran out the door and the remaining Chipmunks and Chipettes looked at each other with shrugs as yelling came from the room Alvin and Brittany had walked into.

* * *

**I realize this chapter was short. And the ending left something to be desired, but I'm tired.**

**Well, I have no idea when the next chapter will be out. I personally want it to be soon because it's really good. All I have to do is start and finish chapter 17 and chapter 16 will be out. (I like to be ahead of all of you. It's one of my techniques.) **

**Please, review!! I would like to get the next one out before Monday, but considering that I'm going on a trip tomorrow, that probably won't happen.**

**But, I want my mailbox to be full when I get back on Saturday. (See, it's not that long.) Remember to guess at the Animaniacs refrence!! (Gol, I realize this whole 'get into my story' stuff has been done before, but it's the best I could come up with.)**

**rEvIeW!!**


	16. Connections

**Well, here is the next chapter like I promised. I got a whole bunch of reviews, and now I am updating. Cycle.**

**Well, I had a whole bunch of freakin' people guess the quote. So... YOU'RE ALL WINNERS!! That's right. If you took the inative to guess, you get a guest role. It's not huge, and few lines, maybe a paragraph at most, but your still in it right?**

**Oh, and I'm not gonna seek out every person who guessed. (BTW: The quote was the "What can you tell me about the scientists of the 19th (or 18th can't remember) century." thing.) If you guessed and got it right. I need you to give me the following information. (I know, Tal, this is one of my bad contests. No need to beat me up. I'm gonna let you host the next one, I'm horrible at these.) Oh, and I will be checking if you did guess last chapter. So, if you didn't you can't just go and give me you info and expect to be in it. Sorry, don't work like that. But I won't be searching for you if you don't give me the stuff.**

**(Why did I just have to uncontrolable urge to blow and kiss and yell: "Goodnight everybody!" I dunno.)**

**Name: (If I already used it, you can't. Sorry.) (Also, no need to give me your real name.)**

**Age: (You all automatically get bumped to nine. Hah!)**

**Hair color and length:**

**Eye color: **

**Gender: (Most of you I can guess, but some of you are mysteries.) **

**(If you're anonymous, you can still be in this thing. Just FYI.)**

**Enjoy the chapter. (Gasp!! There's no quote!!)**

**Disclaimer: -Sob-**

* * *

The next day, Simon pointed out a problem as all three boys sat in their rooms. The sunlight filtered in through the closed window with a vengeance and every few seconds with Simon turned his head to look at each of his brothers, it would flash off his glasses and blind them momentarily. They were all sweating furiously and it seemed like it was the middle of the day instead of close to dark. It was getting closer and closer to summer and the California sun seemed to want to confirm that.

"Alvin?" The blue shirted Chipmunk asked as he lounged on his bed, turning his head to look at the red shirted and blue jean short clothed Chipmunk sitting in front of him. Theodore winced as the sunlight once again caught on Simon's glasses and flashed on his face. "How exactly do you plan on getting into the school? There are a lot of procedures to go through before you get enrolled."

Alvin sighed and rolled his eyes. "That's where you come in. You're the one who wanted me to do this, so you have to figure out how to get me in, keep Dave busy, and keep me updated on the homeschooling."

"He does have a point, Simon." Theodore said. Simon snapped his head around to look at his baby brother and Alvin cringed as the blinding flash hit him.

"Take off your glasses or move with your back to the sun." He mumbled as he put his hands over his eyes to try to get rid of the multi-colored dots dancing around.

Simon sighed and rolled off his bed. He moved across the room and sat with his back against the side of Theodore's bed, away from the window. Both Alvin and Theodore turned on the red-checkered bedspread they were sitting on to look at Simon and squinted when the light coming from the window met them.

"That's even worse." Alvin mumbled as he pulled his legs over the side and dropped to the ground. He leaned in the same way as Simon except on his own bed. He sighed when Theodore's bed successfully blocked out the sun coming from the window, and after a few moments, Theodore dropped down as well.

"Now, as I was saying." Simon went on. "What exactly do you want me to do?"

Alvin was blown over. Simon was actually complying without a fight. His brain spun for a seconds as he took in this new information and he stuttered for a moment, trying to come up with a coherent sentence.

When he finally got his mouth under control, Alvin spoke. "I need you to fake all the necessary documents, somehow convince Dave to let me out of the house, - I'll probably help with that one - and I'm gonna need a parent." He glanced at Theodore and the smallest Chipmunk's eyes widened.

"M-me?" He asked, his voice wavering. Was Alvin _nuts_? He couldn't pull off an adult. He could barely pull off Alvin himself, and they were exactly the same age!!

"Was I looking at anyone else?" Alvin asked as he picked at a crack in the wood floor. "C'mon Theodore." Alvin lifted his head. "Simon's got enough on his plate already."

"Who said anything about food?! I'm barely tall enough to pass for nine! How am I gonna act like a thirty something year old human?!"

Simon and Alvin were clearly blown back by Theodore's outburst, and the Chipmunk in question felt himself blush. "Plus, won't my voice be a clear give-away?"

He did have a point, and Simon couldn't help but acknowledge it. "That is true, Alvin. He could barely pass for you two days ago..." He tailed off, hoping Alvin got the message.

"Well, then Simon. You do it."

Simon jolted up to his feet without thinking. This automatic reaction was fueled by the many fights were his height had been his advantage over Alvin. He knew his little brother hated to be so short and the fact that Simon was taller than him, even though he was older by three minutes, had made Alvin loose it in the past. Why should Simon be taller than him? They were the same exact age and should be the same height.

Alvin was surprised when Simon jumped up, but didn't show it. He just calmly got on his own feet and looked into Simon's gray eyes.

"No, Alvin." Simon replied as he set his teeth on edge and narrowed his eyes. "I have enough to do."

Alvin sighed. "Fine. You stand on Theodore's shoulders; your voice is low enough to pass for an adult human, and Theodore's more stable on his feet."

Simon's eyes got even more narrower at Alvin's jibe. "I am not clumsy." He retorted as he walked around Alvin. But the world seemed to tip on it's axis as he tripped over nothing and went stumbling over Alvin's bed.

"Yup." Alvin nodded. "Not clumsy at all, just a little prone to falling over and dropping stuff."

Simon growled under his breath and pushed himself up with his arms. _"Ow." _He hissed as he tentiavily touched his sore wrist. _Must've sprained it. _He thought to himself as his wrist screamed at him for moving. "Alvin, even if Theodore is better on his feet. What makes you think he can support my weight?"

"That's simple. Face it, we've grown up with each other, I already know you. You're gonna build something that will help him."

"Oh, yeah." Simon asked as he cocked an eyebrow. "What makes you so sure?"

Alvin's facade fell slightly as his mind comprehended what Simon had just said. "Huh?" Was the only things that came out of his mouth.

"Very nice comeback, Alvin." Simon replied smugly as he walked toward the door.

"Where are you goin'?!" Alvin asked suddenly when Simon opened the door.

"Where do you think he's going, Alvin?" Theodore asked as he carefully got up and walked toward Simon. "He hurt himself."

"Oh." Alvin mentally slapped himself. Wow, he was just full of good comebacks today.

Both Simon and Theodore sighed as they walked out the room. The door shut behind them with a barely audible _click_.

After a few seconds, with only a few inches of plaster and a thin slab of wood separating him from his brothers, Alvin couldn't take it. He bolted out the room and felt his breath come back when he saw their backs.

"Wait up!!"

XxXxXxXxXxXx

After bandaging his wrist, Simon and his brothers sat on the couch. All three were staring at the television as Alvin absently flipped though the channels. He never stayed on one for more than one second, but none of the three seemed to care. Simon's glasses were flashing with the colors as the pictures flashed across the screen and anyone could tell they weren't focusing on the TV.

"Simon, Theodore?" Alvin asked innocently as he set the remote down. Both his brothers looked at him. "Have you noticed that when we're separated, we seem to feel sick?"

The silence that stretched out after Alvin's question seemed to go on forever, and Alvin couldn't help but think that Simon and Theodore were thinking of ways to laugh at him.

"Now that you mention it," Theodore said as he put a hand on his chin, "I have noticed that. When Simon and I left the room, I felt like something was missing, and my stomach started hurting."

"Me too." Simon answered as his mind spun around the new discovery. "Except my head started aching."

"My breath got short." Alvin added as he glanced at each of his brothers through peripheral vision.

All three sighed at the same time and slumped deeper into the couch.

"What do you think made us get so connected?" Theodore asked after an immeasurable amount of time.

"I suspect that the connection was there all the time." Simon hypothesised as he cleaned his glasses. "Remember the time when we left to go to the theme park and left Alvin here? My stomach ached slightly and my head throbbed a little. I passed it off as the rides getting to me, but maybe it was something else."

"I know what you mean." Alvin mumbled as he dipped his head and his shoulders dropped. "When you guys left I freaked."

"Of course you did." Theodore answered with a smile. "I would be scared too."

"Now, the real question is: What made that connection stronger?" Simon asked as he nodded at Theodore. "It was obviously there, but we could stand to be in different rooms as long as we were in the same building. Now, though..."

Alvin and Theodore were silent, both caught in their own thoughts. "Wow." The both mumbled at the same time.

All three looked at each other and blinked at the same time. "Wow." Simon confirmed with a nod.

* * *

**Fleb. (Is that a word?) I don't like the ending, but it was pulled out of truths... sorta.**

**I saw somewhere that if your a multiple (A.K.A Twin, triplet.) You have a sorta connection with your siblings. Some of them have to same dreams, some can feel each others pain, and some - if they were always with them all their lives - can't stand to be in a different room from each other. (Okay, so the last one I made up. Sue me.) (Wait. Don't do that!)**

**As you can probably tell by the Author's Notes, I'm out of it. I'm usually no nonsense when it comes to this fic, but for some reason... (Faints because she hit herself over the head with a huge comedy mallet that she pulled out of her hammerspace.) (Yes, hammerspace is a real word. Go look it up.)**

**Well, not much else to say but review!! I'll update as soon as possible if I get a lot of reviews like I did last time!!**

**rEvIeW!!**


	17. Breaking

**Le sigh. Fanfiction is so messed up right now, I can't stand it. I can't write reviews, I can't upload new documents, I can't check my polls. (BTW: Check out my profile. There's a new one up.) **

**I don't know what I'm gonna do if they don't fix it. I've been putting off reading a few stories because I've been so tired from school and the first chance I get, fanfic screws up. (Mpkio2, ((I think that's how you spell it. Sorry if I got it wrong. Don't feel like looking it up.)) and ((I'm not even gonna bother with the numbers. I know I'll mess it up.)) Jamie In the Rainy. I'll get on that as soon as they fix fanfiction.) **

**Anyway, I already know that reivews aren't working, so you won't be able to reivew. Just, please, remember to come back here and review when they get it working. I'm posting that in hopes that people will reivew when it starts working. I was gonna make you wait, but I decided to trust you. (Am I the queen of guilt trips or what?)**

**Anyway, I don't really like this chapter, and it goes against my "rule book" in so many ways. But the events in this chapter lead to the main conflict. (Just so everyone knows, that rule book was made in fun. You don't have to listen to it. Heck. Even I don't listen to it.)**

**BTW: I know of at least two of you who will be shocked by what I did here.**

**UPDATE: Five minutes later. Well, all is well again in fanfiction world. (I think.) Everything's nice and shiny - not to mention working - again!! YAY!! So this means you can review!!**

**Enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: LEAVE ME ALONE!! ALL I OWN IS THE PLOT AND THE OCs!! And please, don't steal my plot. (Or characters.) (You can base other fanfics off my stories all you want, just please ask first.) That's already happened to me on another site. Please. Don't. And No. I will not elaborate. I'm tryin' to forget.**

* * *

"So, Alvin?" Simon asked as he pushed his glasses up his nose as they walked down the street. The sun made everything so hot that the boys had been forced to drop the sweatshirts and adopt shirts and shorts. "What was Brittany's condition?"

Alvin shuddered. "I don't know. But if she asked you to bring the camera, it must be bad."

Simon nodded. He did have a point. He knew that Brittany had her own camera, but it was digital. They owned one that had the pictures printed onto the film as soon as you took the picture, so you couldn't delete them. He couldn't help but feel sorry for his brother. Just seeing Alvin look so down as he kicked a can down the street, you would think he was going to the gallows.

"C'mon, Alvin." Theodore said as he reached up to place a hand on Alvin's shoulder. As he did, Simon could see a little of his stomach sticking out underneath. He was going to have to remind Dave to take them clothes shopping again. It looked like all their shirts were getting small on them. But they only wore them when it was hot like this, so they could make it for a few more weeks. Plus, they still had to special order all of Alvin's clothes. You couldn't exactly buy shirts with a big, yellow 'A' on them. At least, not yet. "It can't be that bad."

"Of course not, Theodore. She can just have me do something completely humiliating and put it up on the Internet!"

XxXxXxXxX

"Or, she can have you do something completely humiliating, put it up on the Internet, and mail it out to all of her closest friends." Simon said as he grabbed the mail out of their newly resurrected box. He couldn't help letting out a chuckle as he thought about what Brittany had made Alvin do. Who knew that Brittany would stoop so low as to have Alvin try on her new outfits and model them for her?

He had to chuckle at the picture Brittany had picked out to send to everyone. He had on a blue skirt with a pink blouse that was covered in sequence. Alvin was standing with his arms crossed, the outfit throwing sparkles across the room as he pouted.

_"Perfect, Alvin_." She had said_. "You look just like a real model_."

That had just made him pout more.

But, it was over now, and Brittany had agreed to help.

Simon sighed and walked into the house, ready to face the storm. Plus, his headache was getting worse from being outside away from Theodore and Alvin so long.

It seemed that this crazy connection - as Alvin had taken to calling it - had a pattern. First, it would start with a pulsing temple. Not horrible, but terribly annoying. Then the pulsing would move around his head and become a full-fledged headache.

But, he could ignore that. Dealing with Alvin over the years had insured that, it was the stomach ache that came after.

It felt like his stomach was being ripped apart one molecule at a time. He still had no idea why they were connected in this way. He had been doing some research, and had found out that multiples were always very close, but close enough to have to be in the same room at all times? Or close enough to sense when another was in pain?

Simon shook his head to clear his thoughts, but all that did was make his headache worse. So he just made his way back toward the house, his head clearing with each step.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Both Simon and Theodore jolted awake, their left arms throbbing.

As they looked around in confusion, their brains were waking up and working at the same speed.

"Alvin." They both muttered at the same time as they jumped out of bed and bolted out the door, one after the other.

Theodore made it to the staircase first, and he froze. So, Simon slammed into him, for he had not put his glasses on in his haste to get out of the room. Theodore stumbled foreword a few steps, and fell to his knees, but managed to catch himself before he tumbled down the stairs.

Simon looked around for a second, confused as to why he had just ran into something soft, but his brain chose that moment to react. Pure adrenaline was pumped through his veins and he quickly identified the soft thing as Theodore. As he helped his little brother to his feet, his brain prioritized everything.

_Find Alvin_ was at the top of the list. So, as soon as Theodore was steady enough, Simon started down the stairs - careful to hold onto the rail; he didn't need to hurt himself before they found Alvin.

Theodore wasn't far behind Simon, but he was still far enough away that in the minimal light coming in from the kitchen window he couldn't really see anything. They were both blind as bats.

Simon tiptoed across the hard wood floor, his arm stretched out in front of him. But his arms didn't notice the hunched up form on the floor. His foot did, but it was too late. It tripped over the form and it moaned.

As Simon went sprawling, Theodore heard the _thump_ as he hit the floor and the high pitch moan that had to come from Alvin.

Theodore didn't worry about Simon, even though his side throbbed in pain from his fall, Simon would live. Alvin on the other hand was holding his arm and mumbling something about "pancakes", "horses", and "Simon having two left feet".

"Do you think he was sleepwalking?" Simon's voice called from the darkness and Theodore jumped.

"Don't do that." Theodore mumbled as he kneeled down next to Alvin. It amazed him that both he and Simon were reaming so calm. He knew that the old Theodore would've ran to Dave, but he was the new Theodore now.

"Hm." He heard Simon hummed to himself. "I think he broke it, or at least sprained it." His older brother said quietly. "You go get Dave, and I'll try to make him more comfortable. I know we're not supposed to move him, but it looks and feels like he's in a lot of pain."

Theodore nodded and stood up. He then turned on his heal and Simon could barely make out his footfalls on the floor.

Then Simon got to the real work. He carefully tapped on Alvin's arm. Alvin groaned and finally seemed to be coming to.

"Welcome to the land of the living." Simon muttered as he touched Alvin's arm again. Alvin glared at him.

"Stop that." He hissed as he pushed Simon away with his good arm. "I fell down the stairs and I think I hit my head."

_That answers one question._ Simon thought to himself as he pushed himself off the floor with his hands. His wrist screamed in protest. "Well, that makes two Seville brothers hurt, do you think Theodore will make it three?"

* * *

**Well. There you go. **

**Please, review. I really need the encouragement. I just had an (Put in the words of Tal/Narf) emotional bomb. Once again, not gonna elaborate. Just know that it won't last long, and I should be over it soon.**

**rEvIeW!! **


	18. Fixing

****

Fleb. (Hehe. New word) I'm sorry it's been so long, but I've been juggling a lot of stuff right now, and this story kinda fell through the cracks.

**The next update's probably not gonna be for a while. I have some serious coloberating and writing to do with Kitty Seville if we're gonna get this oneshot series up to date in time for her next chapter of Introduced to Society comes out. So keep your eyes peeled for that.**

**Also, this chapter may seem like a filler space, but I really needed to write it. I needed to experiment with writing a doctor.**

**I think that's it. Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Also, critics are greatly appreciated.**

**Thaks a bunch to Kitty Seville for helping me with all the medical mumbo-jumbo in this chapter!!**

**Disclaimer: No!! Only own the plot and OCs. LEAVE ME ALONE!!**

* * *

"Well, Alvin. Dave." The doctor said as he walked in. He was a blading man with a slightly protruded gut and huge feet. "I got your X-ray back. You seem to have what we call a greenstick fracture."

Alvin sighed and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Next was when the doctor explained everthing in a language that Alvin didn't speak. Sure, his arm was killing him, but he didn't need a headache on top of that.

"What is that, Dr. Oscar?" Dave asked as he looked at Alvin worriedly. The red-capped boy seemed unconcerned that his arm was fractured or that he might have to be in a cast for six weeks.

"A greenstick fracture is very common in children who are still growing. In a greenstick fracture, extreme force causes a bone to bend, breaking partway through, much like a green twig when it is bent." He held the X-ray up to the light so Dave could see it. "As you can see, Alvin's arm was bent slightly on the inside of his arm, while a piece of the outside cracked."

"What do you have to do to fix it?" Alvin asked as he got to the point.

"The prognosis for this type of fracture is generally good," The doctor replied, looking at Dave, "with some greenstick fractures healing in as little as three weeks when they are promptly diagnosed and treated. Many children break a limb at some point due to their active lives, and a greenstick fracture is typically nothing to be concerned about." He was trying to reassure Dave, but it didn't seem to be working.

"Treating a greenstick fracture requires reducing the fracture, typically by pulling the bone apart slightly and then pushing it into place to straighten it out." Alvin's eyebrows furrowed and his eyes widened. "To ensure that the fracture heals, I will put your arm into a cast. These fractures heal very quickly, in three weeks at least, but you _will_ have to be in a cast." He was talking to Alvin now. "But first, we have to push the bone back into place."

Alvin laughed a little unsuredly and looked at Dave, his face horrified. "What?" He squeaked.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Theodore sighed as he looked at Simon. Both boys had huge headaches and they were both mentally preparing themselves for the stomach attack, so Theodore looked around the room to distract himself.

There wasn't much to look at. The waiting room walls were off white, the chairs a dull gray, there was a nurse behind the counter, but she seemed interested in the computer in front of her. The only sound was the _click clack_ of the keys as she typed. As he looked, Theodore noticed that the only real color in the room and Simon and himself. Their bright sweatshirts stood out against the bland colors of the room.

When he looked at Simon, Theodore noticed that his older brother was sweating. So, he quickly jumped out of his chair and briskly took the two steps between him and Simon. As he placed a hand on Simon's forehead, his brother moaned and Theodore jumped.

"Theodore?" Simon asked as he opened his eyes. They were out of focus.

"Yes, Simon." Theodore answered as he looked at his brother.

"My head hurts." Simon muttered as his voice cracked. Theodore cringed as he lost concentration and his headache flooded back into awareness. He felt sweat blossom across his forehead and sighed. Why did Simon have to remind him?

"We need to find Alvin." Simon mumbled as he carefully pushed Theodore into a chair. His little brother squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. "And fast."

As he prepared himself to get up and face the nurse at the desk, she looked up.

"Oh, no you don't." She said as she glared at him. "Your brother's arm is being set as we speak. You just have to wait a few more minutes." She gazed at him and a hand came up to her mouth. "Are you sweating? It's seventy degrees in here." Her hand hovered over the phone. If they answered wrong, she would pick it up.

"We're fine." Simon muttered as he placed a hand on his forehead to wipe away the sweat. "Can we go see our brother now?" He knew that if they got admitted to the hospital, they would never see Alvin, and they would just get worse.

The nurse looked at them. The little one's breathing was labored and the bigger one was gazing at her with huge gray eyes.

"Let me make a call." She answered.

XxXxXxXxX

Twenty minutes later, both Simon and Theodore were lying on beds with IVs in their arms. There were two sets of annoying beats, which could be explained by the heart monitors sitting by each bed. They were beeping quickly, like the people they were attached to had just run a marathon. Their room was a double, so the doctor's put them together and were watching to see if they would get any better with the IVs. They figured that both boys were dehydrated and the nutrients in the IV would help them get better.

Dave was a wreck and refused to let Alvin see his brothers. He thought he had been through enough and didn't need to see his brothers in this condition.

"Please, Dave?" Theodore asked as he hear Simon mumble something about, "Nurse, lier, stupid doctors."

"No, Theodore." Dave answered, not giving him an explanation.

"Please? He wou-" He was cut off by a doctor coming into the room. He had on blond hair and was wearing a doctor's coat.

"Hello." He said in an Australian accent. "I'm Dr. Chase." (A/N: I know, he's on House. But I'm no good at doctors and he's my favorite.) He grabbed the chart off the edge of Theodore's bed and gazed at it.

When he was done, he motioned to the nurse standing in the doorway and she walked toward him. When she was close enough he mumbled something to her and Simon barely caught what he said.

"They're getting worse. The IV's not working." Simon's eyes widened. This was the part where they started painful tests.

But thankfully, Alvin chose that moment to burst through the door.

"Dave!!" He yelled as he ran into the middle of the room, his arm with a huge cast wrapped around it. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

Dave was taken back at Alvin's tone. He had never taken that tone of voice with him.

"Alvin." The red capped boy looked up at him and Dave's breath caught in his throat. He was just as pale as his brothers and was sweating just as bad.

Alvin took Dave's pause as an opportunity to move toward his brothers. Both of them smiled at him as all three took a deep breath. Their heads cleared simultaneously, and they ran their hands across their foreheads to clear away all the sweat that wouldn't be returning if Alvin stayed in the room. The beeping on the monitors slowed down considerably and Dr. Chase noticed this.

"Alvin." Dave grabbed Alvin by the back of his shirt and towed him toward the door. "Go back outside."

"But, Dave!!" Alvin struggled around in his grip, but it was no use. Dave set him outside the door and slammed it shut, barely missing Alvin's nose. He locked it, but Alvin didn't miss a beat, he started pounding on the door with his good fist.

_"Let me in!!"_ His muffled voice called. Dave ignored him and turned his attention back to the other two brothers. _"Dave!! Simon and Theodore are fixing to get worse again." _His voice was considerably calmed when he called though again, like he was talking to a five year old.

Dave rolled his eyes and walked back into the room to talk to the doctor.

"Do you know what's wrong with them?" He motioned to Simon and Theodore and the elder glared at him. Dave looked back at him softly. After a few seconds, Simon grabbed his head right over his left temple and mumbled something that sounded like: "Here we go again."

When he glanced at Theodore, Dave noticed the shorter boy had his eyes squeezed shut in pain. They heard a moan and a thump from the other side of the door and they knew Alvin felt the same pain.

"Bring him back in here." Chase told Dave and the man looked astonished.

"I just kicked him out." He argued.

"I know. Bring him back. He's obviously got whatever these two have." He motioned to Simon and Theodore.

"There's no more bed space, Doctor." The nurse argued for Dave. "Where will we put him?"

"I just need to test something really quick. He can sit in the chair. Now, Mr. Seville. If you please..."

Dave sighed dejectedly and opened the door. Alvin fell backward in the room, having been obviously leaning on it when it unexpecantly opened.

"Ow." He muttered as Dave helped him up. As Dave led him to the chair in the middle of the room, Alvin gazed at Simon questioningly. His older brother shrugged.

All three boys automatically felt better when Alvin came back into he room and the monitors and their faces showed it. Simon smiled at Dave and Theodore sat all the way up in bed and stretched. Alvin's eyes sparkled with that mysterious twinkle that had been missing for the past few days. You could tell he was planning something.

"Hmm." The doctor mused to himself. "Strange."

XxXxXxXxXx

"I don't understand." Dave said as he sat in a chair outside the boys' room. He could hear them yelling at each other and knew they felt better.

"It seems that the boys have formed a sort of... connection, I guess you could call it. From what I've noticed, when they are in different rooms they get very sick."

"That doesn't make any sense." Dave argued as he winced when a crashing sound came from the other room. A mixture of "Alvin!", "Ahhh!!" and "It wasn't me!!" Came after the crash.

"I know," The doctor muttered as he stood up. "I suggest that you make sure they don't stay apart for longer that half an hour, and monitor them when they are apart. If you do that and come back for Alvin's check-ups on his arm. They should be fine."

Dave was still horribly confused, but stood up anyway and shook the doctor's hand. "Thank you. And I'll make sure Alvin's more careful on the stairs."

* * *

**EDIT: 9-7-08 9:31 A.M. **

**It seems that I forgot to put the usual stuff down here. I was in such a hurry to update I forgot.**

**Please, remember to review. I might actually make time to write if I get enough reviews. So, please:**

**rEvIeW!!**


	19. Author's Note and Sneak Peak!

Chapter 19.

"You're not serious." Alvin stated as he gazed at Dave, his eyes flashing as he mulled over what Dave just said.

"You can't be serious." Theodore argued next as he jumped up on the couch with Alvin and Simon. The tiny jolt he made forced Simon up three inches into the air. When he came down, he slightly bumped into Alvin, and his little brother's fractured arm fell of the armrest. Alvin whimpered and closed his eyes.

"Dave." Simon took his turn when he noticed that Dave had totally ignored Theodore. That in itself was odd. "Alvin isn't used to his cast yet. What if he-"

"He'll have you." Dave argued. "Face it boys. I was wrong to homeschool you. I'm not a good teacher and you are all apparently getting antsy from staying in the house all day. Espically with Alvin's sleepwalking."

"I wasn't sleepw-" Simon elbowed him before he could continue. Alvin hadn't been sleepwalking when he had fallen down the stairs. He couldn't fall asleep and had come down stairs to get a drink and midnight snack. It hadn't ended well.

But Dave didn't need to know that. All three boys had agreed that the best thing was to let Dave think Alvin was sleepwalking. Dave had already thought that to begin with, and if it ment things would change for the better, then they were all for it.

Simon glared at Alvin. But it seemed that _someone _had already forgotten the agreement.

"But, Dave." Simon started again while Alvin rubbed his arm where Simon had hit him. The eveing sun was catching on Alvin's face and made him look more gold than the tan that he was. "Do you think going back to _school_," He stressed the word, "is the answer?"

"Well..." Dave seemed to think about it for a minute. "Let's just give school another try, fellas. I'll have to take care of a few things, but I'm pretty sure you'll be back in the classroom by Thursday."

XxXxXxXx

"Why?" Alvin asked as he flopped backward onto his bed. "Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?! Why!!"

"Why what, Alvin?" Theodore asked as he jumped onto his own bed. The sun had since gone down, and it was almost pitch black in the room, because neither Alvin nor Theodore had bothered to turn on the light.

"Why or rather who," He glanced at the door where Simon would be coming though any second, "put the 'go back to school' idea in Dave's head."

"Oh, stop, Alvin." Simon replied as he flipped on the light. Alvin winced and rolled over on his stomach, careful not to jar his arm, while Theodore just cringed. "I didn't put that thought into Dave's head. Even though it'll be good to be going back."

"Oh, yeah?" Alvin replied, his voice muffled by the bed.

"Yeah. Don't I recall a time last week when we were in this same situation, except you were complaing about homeschool and your voice was bouncing off the couch and instead of the bed?"

Simon heard Alvin huff and mumble something else - he chose to ignore him. The red capped Chipmunk put his good hand next to his ear and pushed upward until his head was high enough that he could see Simon. His normally clear blue eyes were clowded with some unknown emotion.

"Okay, let's say we go back." Simon nodded. "What do you plan to do about Collins, since I can't help at the moment?"

Simon was baffled. Alvin was thinking... _ahead_? What was this world coming to?

"Um..." Great the world must be ending if his brain was failing to give him things to say.

"Exactly Simon. You can't even walk a straight line without tripping. How can I expect you to protect yourself, Theodore, and me?"

"Hey!!" Theodore yelled, miffed and totally straying off his 'let his brothers handle the fights' policy. "I can take care of myself and help keep you safe, Alvin!"

"Mhmmm, Theodore. Of course." Alvin replied without thinking about what his little brother had said.

Theodore huffed and crossed his arms as he sat down on his bed. It wasn't like him to pout, but each was intilited to his own every once in a while.

"Alvin." Simon hissed. "I am perfectly capable of watching out for you and Theodore."

Alvin reached out and grabbed Simon's glasses. "Not without these you aren't. Face it Simon, your an invalid."

"Do you even know what that word means?" Simon asked, not really speaking to Alvin. He snatched his glasses back and placed them back on his nose. "I wasn't speaking in a literal sense, Alvin."

"Literal or not, you can't hadle it. Admit it. Admit you can't hadle the pressure."

Simon ignore him and flexed his wrist. It was still hurting, but not so much that he couldn't use it.

"Okay, Simon. How about we test this?" He stuck his good arm out and curled his fingers toward him, an invite. "If you can get me on my back, then I'll go back to school without a fight."

"And if I don't?" Simon asked as he let Alvin feed off this idea.

"I get to kick and scream all I want without you using your chess-master mind against me. I should be the only one who can expliot it."

Simon rolled his eyes and grabbed a book off his shelf, not really noticing which one it was. "I am not going to fight someone with a fractured arm." He stated as he cracked the book open. As he gazed at the title he wrinkled his nose and shoved it back onto the shelf. He wasn't in the mood to read about Pigs That Go Oink.

_Why do we still have that book anyway?_ He asked himself as his eyes swept over the shelf. He resisted the urge to purse his lips in agitation and walked around Alvin carefully to get to his bed. But Alvin stuck his foot out and Simon went tumbling to the floor.

Simon's arms snapped forward and took most of the shock of the fall as he slammed into the ground. His wrist snapped backward and everyone hear a _crack_ as his elbow popped.

_My left arm is going to be out of commision for a while now. _He thought to himself as he layed on the floor, letting his wrist throb. His elbow didn't hurt yet, and he assumed that this was going to be one of those, "that's gonna hurt in the morning," situations.

"Simon." Alvin called in a sing-song voice. Simon groaned and banged his head lightly on the floor. He had forgotten that his brothers were there. "Better get up."

"Alvin." Simon was surprised when he heard Theodore's voice. "Leave Simon alone. You hurt him."

Alvin scoffed. "He needs to learn to watch were he's going."

Simon groaned and pushed himself up with his right hand. "First off, Alvin. You _tripped_ me. Second: I'm not going to fight you because of it."

"Of course your not." Alvin replied as he rolled his eyes. "You're the oldest, most mature, and most sensible out of us. I'm just trying to push your limits."

"Of course you are." Simon muttered as he motioned to Theodore with his head. His little brother hopped off his bed and quickly sped over to him. He helped Simon up and walked him to the door. As he opened it, Simon turned to look at Alvin. "I have no clue what's going through your head right now, Alvin. And I don't want to know. Just, please, sort it out before Thursday." With that, Theodore took Simon's hand and took him down to the kitchen to fix up his arm once again.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Hey, fellas." Dave said as Theodore and Simon made it down the stairs. "Were's Alvin?"

"Upstairs." Theodore said with a pointed look at the stairs. "He tripped Simon and re-hurt his wrist."

Dave put a hand up to his forehead and sighed. "I'd better go talk to him and get him to come downstairs with you."

Simon nodded as he directed Theodore to grab the brace sitting on the counter. Theodore pushed the stool sitting in the corner over to the counter, for the brace was sitting on the very back part and he couldnt' reach it even if he jumped, hopped onto it, and leaned over to grab it. He then jumped down, and handed it to Simon who strapped it onto his wrist.

"Thanks, Theo." Simon said as he and Theodore walked into the den, no doubt to catch up on some much needed telivison time.

Dave sighed again as he poured himself and Alvin a cup of lemonade. Then then took a deep breath to prepare himself for the storm that was a p-ed off Alvin. He was no doubtly p-ed off, because he wouldn't deleberitly hurt Simon unless he was really upset.

Then, David Seville started up the stairs, unsure if anyone would ever hear from him again.


	20. REAL author's note and TWO sneaks peaks

**Well, I guess I have a lot to answer to. **

**I know it's been a while since I've updated, but I'm afraid to annouce that my dog has finally fallen to his cancer. He died on last Monday, and I've been torn up about it. If you want to information about that, go to my deviantART page and look. The link is on my profile. **

**I also got a really good idea for another fanfic earlier today, and I really want to work on that. I've also started a lot of other projects, and this story has kinda fallen through the cracks. **

**But, don't worry, when my muse finally picks up on his story, I will write some more of it. I've just been busy.**

**But, I will actually give you all a sneak peak of my new story and the next chapter of Bad Luck Days. **

**First up, New story: _The Prince, the Pauper, and the Purposeless_ (Title may be changed) **

**Setting: Late 1700's. New England Colonies. **

**Summery: Alvin, Simon, and Theodore are abonded at an orphanage right after they are born and all three are adopted by someone diffrent. Alvin by a pauper named David Seville, Simon by a very very poor woman, and Theodore by the richest family in the village. But, after Simon's adoptive mother dies, leaving him homeless, can he find the two brothers he only has the vaguest memories of? **

One cold, winter's night, in eighteenth century America, a small hand-woven basket was dropped off on a doorstep. Inside were three small chipmunks, each clothed in a different color. The eldest was in red, and middle child in blue, and the youngest in green.

All night, the three baby chipmunks sat in the basket, holding onto each other. They didn't make a sound, for they knew that the whole village was asleep and didn't want to break the silence.

But, just as the sun was peaking over the horizon, the eldest cried out. It was a long mournful sound that would break anyone's heart. The woman in the house they had been dropped at jumped up at the cry and didn't think twice before she hopped out of bed and rushed down the stairs in her home – pulling on her cloak as she did so.

When she opened the door, her heart dropped into her stomach. There, sitting on her doorstep, were the cutest baby chipmunks she had ever seen. She didn't think twice about them as she picked up the wicker handle on the basket and pulled them into her home, for chipmunks were a huge part of society. It wasn't unusual to see a chipmunk walking down the street or ridding in on of the many carriages that carried people to and fro.

The woman carefully set the basket on her table and smiled when all three yawned simultaneously.

"Who would want to give you three up?" She asked to herself as she patted each on the head. The eldest tried to swat her hand away and she noticed that there was a piece of parchment tied around each of their wrists. She grabbed hold of his tiny hand and looked at the aging sheet of paper.

"Hello, Albert." She said as she read the name off the paper.

The little boy whimpered and cast his ice-blue eyes over the woman. "No," He argued. "Alvin."

The woman shrugged and smiled again. "Okay Alvin." She then looked over the other two and found their names also.

"Alvin, Simon, and Theodore," She said as she waved her hand around the room, "Welcome to Whitechappel orphanage."

* * *

**Next, the next chapter:**

Kitty sighed as Brittany once again had to stop and fix her hair.

"This ain't a beauty contest, princess." She said, a southern twang slipping through. "You don't got to be perfect."

"Ain't?" Brittany asked, pointing out her error. Kitty slapped a hand over her mouth and winced. She hadn't meant for her accent to slip through, but it had gotten the better of her.

Brittany silently filled away the accent to digest later. It was a window into who Kitty was. All they knew was what she appeared to be. Brunette, human, and a girl.

Kitty ignored the look the other two girls were throwing her and continued down the hallway, knowing that the Chipettes would soon follow. She wasn't disapointed when she heard three sets of running feet behind her. She turned to look at them, and was surprised when she was met with Brett's face instead of the female Chipmunks'.

"What do you want, Brett?" Kitty asked, her voice clearly iritated.

Brett said nothing, just moved aside. Kitty held in a gasp when she saw that two of Brett's goons were holding the Chipettes up. Jeanette and Eleanor in one of their hands, Brittany in the other two. She was squirrming so much, it took both of them to keep her from kicking them.

"Pest control." Brett spat the two words and Kitty cursed inwardly.

"Hmm?" Kitty asked, keeping her cool. "Well, I don't see any pests around here." She raised an eyebrow and looked around Brett. "Oh, wait. There they are." She pointed in the direction of the Chipettes and their holders. "You might want to get some new friends, Brett. Those two look like they have bugs crawling all over them." Something behind Brett seemed to catch her eye and she smiled. "Don't look now, but trouble this way comes."

Brett cursed under his breath, glanced behind him, and froze. Inwardly, Kitty did a little happy dance, Talbot was coming around the corner!

"Better let them go," She warned. "Talbot's coming."

Brett growled and signaled his goons. They dropped the three Chipettes on the ground and ran off with their tails between their legs.

* * *

**The ending is subject to change, it was written a long time ago, and I don't like where I went with it. **

**Anyway, keep your eyes peeled. I don't know when I'm gonna update, but it will be in the next month for sure.**

**On a side note: Today's my Birthday!**


	21. Emotional

**Well, finally since I started my unoffical hatius, I'm back and better than ever. I can't belive I've been away for so long. **

**Anyway, I know a lot of you are probably ready to chop my head off, but I was gone, I'm back now. One day, I just sat down and started writing and ta-da this pops out!**

**I noticed that my writing style has changed a tad bit. You can probably tell, because I wrote the first part of this chapter about a month ago, and the rest yesterday and today. I personally like this new style.**

**Anyway, I have finally figured out how to end this thing. Not gonna say how, just that I have an idea.**

**Hope you enjoy the chapter. (It's longer than the last few.) If you have any questions, leave them in a review and I'll be sure to get to them on the next FAQs.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Chipmunks, Chippettes, or Dave. I do own the plot to this and any orgional characters except Kitty Noel, she belongs to herself. **

* * *

Kitty sighed as Brittany once again had to stop and fix her hair.

"This ain't a beauty contest, princess." She said, a southern twang slipping through. "You don't got to be perfect."

"Ain't?" Brittany asked, pointing out her error. Kitty slapped a hand over her mouth and winced. She hadn't meant for her accent to slip through, but it had gotten the better of her.

Brittany silently filled away the accent to digest later. It was a window into who Kitty was. All they knew was what she appeared to be. Brunette, human, and a girl.

Kitty ignored the look the other two girls were throwing her and continued down the hallway, knowing that the Chipettes would soon follow. She wasn't disappointed when she heard three sets of running feet behind her. She turned to look at them, and was surprised when she was met with Brett's face instead of the female Chipmunks'.

"What do you want, Brett?" Kitty asked, her voice clearly irritated.

Brett said nothing, just moved aside. Kitty held in a gasp when she saw that two of Brett's goons were holding the Chipettes up. Jeanette and Eleanor in one of their hands, Brittany in the other two. She was squirming so much, it took both of them to keep her from kicking them.

"Pest control." Brett spat the two words and Kitty cursed inwardly.

"Hmm?" Kitty asked, keeping her cool. "Well, I don't see any pests around here." She raised an eyebrow and looked around Brett. "Oh, wait. There they are." She pointed in the direction of the Chipettes and their holders. "You might want to get some new friends, Brett. Those two look like they have bugs crawling all over them." Something behind Brett seemed to catch her eye and she smiled. "Don't look now, but trouble this way comes."

Brett cursed under his breath, glanced behind him, and froze. Inwardly, Kitty did a little happy dance, Talbot was coming around the corner!

"Better let them go," She warned. "Talbot's coming."

Brett growled and signaled his goons. They dropped the three Chipettes on the ground and ran off with their tails between their legs.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Dave sighed with his hand on the doorknob as he contemplated over what he wanted to say to Alvin.

The boy had obviously crossed a line with his brothers, but Dave knew that his red capped son couldn't hide in his room forever. He had to come out, or else risk writhing in the floor in agony from being away from his brothers.

That opened a whole new floodgate of questions for Dave. Why had the boys so blatantly kept from him the fact that they had to stay together from him? How had they hidden it so well? Why weren't any of them willing to talk to him? Was he being a bad parent?

He shook his head; of course he wasn't. He just needed to open his eyes and ears more to figure out what was going on around him. Besides, lately, he had been a little lax on paying attention. But could you blame him really? With work piling around him and homeschooling the boys, it was surprising that he could take a few deep breaths let alone deal with small things like cleaning...

He blinked twice when he realized that the house hadn't been cleaned in at least two weeks. But that would mean, that, by now, he would've noticed. He glanced around and noticed the nice clean hallway around him. He quickly sniffed slightly and felt the sharp smell of lemon hit his nose. He then took a few big steps toward the stairs and looked down them. The hardwood floor at the bottom was totally scuff free and shining like new. He glanced around before carefully stepping down the newly polished stairs and glanced into the living room where the television was going full blast.

_"It seems things have finally calmed down for the Chipmunks," _it droned, _"We got a word with manager, songwriter, and surrogate father Dave Seville today as he went to the store to stock up on supplies. The boys had been recently been pulled out of school for unknown reasons and are never seen outside anymore. So it was obvious that Dave would be the only person we would be able to talk to for a while. He was quoted as saying:" _Here the newscaster that was standing in front of his house dissapeard and Dave appeard on the screen with a paper sack of groceries with a gallon of two percent milk sticking out of the top. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were dim and missing that usual twinkle as he answered the reporters questions with answers that would satisfy the audience. _"The boys are fine, they seem to be adjusting to life at home all day. Even though Alvin his having a hard time not being in the public eye all the time." _The reporter chuckled at that. And opened her mouth to ask another question, but right at that moment, Alvin and Simon burst out of the house to help carry the groceries in the house. They froze in their tracks as they saw the camera and carefully tried to back into the house, Simon trying to cover Alvin's plaster covered arm.

But, it was too late, the damage was done. The reporter suddenly had a glint in her eye as she sped off, yelling questions, after the two helpless Chipmunks as they turned and ran for the house, totally forgetting about Alvin's arm.

"Boys!" Dave heard his own voice echoed back to him through the T.V. and he winced when he heard the sharp edge of it. The two boys on the screen froze in their tracks and winced as they slowly turned around and smiled at the camera.

"Hey, guys." Dave heard Theodore's higher voice call as he saw his youngest son come barrelling out of the house to help carry out the groceries and see what was keeping his brothers so long; he had been getting a headache.

Theodore didn't see his brothers stopped only feet from the door as he ran out so he crashed right into them. All three tumbled to the ground in a mess of limbs and giggles and all three smiled up at the camera while Alvin gave a thumbs up.

_"As you can see," _the reporter finished, _"The Chipmunks are happy and, with the exception of some visible injuries, fine. Now, if we will turn to Doc Nelson for the weather."_

Dave sighed as he noticed that, for once, the newscasters had decided to get something right. They could've easily twisted what happened into something horrible and unspeakable, but instead had made it into a very lighthearted story.

He shrugged, must've been a depressing news day.

"Dave?" He heard a sweet little voice ask from around his knees. He smiled as he looked down at the small green sweatered Chipmunk standing by his feet. Theodore had his pointer on his lip as he thought over what to say next as he waited for Dave to answer and nodded quickly before looking back up at Dave with shinning eyes.

"Yes, Theodore?" Dave asked as he picked Theodore up under his arms and carried him over to the couch. He grabbed the remote from between the cushions and pressed a few buttons to turn off the T.V. and turn on the stereo placed right on T.V. A slow, simple song slowly started playing as he placed Theodore in front of him on the couch and looked at him. "What do you have on your mind?"

Theodore glanced side to side quickly, his eyes moving so fast Dave almost didn't catch it. He opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly, his hand went up to his forehead and had rubbed gently as he looked up at Dave, his green eyes filling with tears at the unexpected pain.

Dave sighed quickly as he realized what he had been doing before he had come down the stairs to investigate why the house didn't smell like a pig sty yet. He looked toward the kitchen and called out Simon's name quietly, but got no response. He tried again three more times before sighing and picking Theodore again. He placed the small boy on his shoulders before walking back out into the foyer and climbing the stairs one by one. Since Simon wasn't around to alleviate Theodore's pain he was going to have to deal with the next best thing.

He made his way around the corner, his footsteps muffled by the soft carpet, before carefully placing Theodore on the ground and opening the door a crack. He felt Theodore relax and knew that at least on of his brothers was in this room.

Dave carefully looked through the crack to make sure Alvin wasn't armed and ready to attack anyone who was poised to come in, and was surprised to see Simon sitting on Alvin's bed with his hand on Alvin's shoulder. He was saying something in a low voice, and Dave could only make out a few words, but he could understand what they were talking about by the looks on their faces.

Alvin nodded and quickly shook of Simon's hand. He looked ready to jump off the bed, but, suddenly, Alvin's eyes took on that misty eyed look that he got often when he was trying not to cry and he looked up at the ceiling. Simon shook his head and tried to comfort his brother with words, but it didn't seem to help.

While this was going on, Theodore had stuck his head through the crack and was watching Alvin's eyes well up with tears. His brotherly instincts kicked in and he pushed pass Dave. He ran into the big room as fast as his little legs could carry him and jumped up on the bed to give Alvin the biggest hug he had ever given. Simon looked around awkwardly before joining the group hug between his brothers.

Dave was shell-shocked at this quick and big display of emotion. Sure, one of the boys has started crying before, but the other two brothers would usually say kind words and phrases, not hugs. It was just the way they were. They showed how much they cared about each other through words, not actions.

But, at that moment, Dave felt something shift and he knew, just knew, that the boys would always be connected like they were. Not in the physical sense that had developed over the paste few weeks. No, they would always be connected emotionally.

He glanced back at the boys he had raised and watched grow after their mother had so selflessly given them up, and knew that, somehow, everything was going to be all right. This whole incident would run it's course and the boys would come out of this in better condition than they had entered.

They will have found the knowledge that, sure, they were different: smaller, had fur that was an unusual color, and all the other difference's that came with being a different species. But that didn't mean that they had to act different, or live like animals. Just look at their mother and the other forest animals. Every other person that he knew thought that all animals were nothing more than animals - including his boys.

How many times had he heard them ask if Alvin, Simon, or Theodore ate only nuts and berries, or lived in trees and he had just shrugged it off as a joke? How many times had he let things slide because he was just content with letting those other people wallow in their ignorance? He resolved at that moment to not let that every happen again, starting with a new song...

He looked back at his boys and smiled softly at them as the broke up. Alvin, the only one to have seen him, smiled back quickly and gave a thumbs up before looked back at his brothers.

Dave carefully closed the door behind him as he turned to go back down the stairs and into his study to get started on the song, the lyrics already running through his head...

_C-H-I-P-M-U-N-K  
what's in a name?  
Well, it's all we are  
Who, we'll be  
See, it's everything_

_We got the rhythm  
Got the music in us  
It never really mattered  
What breed we are  
We're little  
We're brown  
We're different  
Here's a little diddy  
About Acceptance!_

XxXxXxXxXx

A few days later, a Monday, Dave was sending the Chipmunks back into the school; a thing he thought he wouldn't be doing until all this was over. "Bye, boys!" Dave called as he waved from his car. The chipmunks waved back quickly before dropping their arms and turning as one toward the front doors of the school. They could see the Chipettes and Kitty and Jamie waiting for them with smiles, and that made them feel a little better.

But, their friends smiles didn't totally get rid of the feelings of dismay and saddness that weighed on their hearts. Why had Dave made them come back after only a few weeks away? Why had Dave sent them back when both Alvin and Simon were injured and Theodore was on the verge of an emtional breakdown?

Theodore had been pressed hard the last few days. Suddenly, without warning, after Alvin's almost breakdown, Theodore had found himself in the position of the "rock" - which was usually Simon's position. Simon had been a little out of it the last few days, mainly occupying his time with cleaning up the house, which was another mystery solved. Dave had been surprised to find out that it was Simon, not Theodore as he had expected, who had been doing the cleaning.

But, Theodore had been stretched thin as the week wore on and had had about enough of being "the rock". He had been happy to pass the torch back to Simon when he had come bounding down the stairs this morning, his eyes shining and ready for school. And Simon had adjusted automatically to that imaginary passing with grace. He had immediately started to help Theodore with breakfast and had managed to get Alvin out of bed before Dave could start his signature yell.

But, all three could tell that Theodore was emotionaly scarred and wouldn't be getting over it for a few days. So that ment that all three weren't up to their full capacity today. Theodore mentally, and Alvin and Simon physically.

But, they pushed those thoughts out of their minds as they met up with their small group of friends, their only light in this sea of darkness, and they greeted them as happily as they could. The Chipettes were curious as to why Alvin had a cast and Simon was limping, because they had seen the newscast and hadn't been able to get over to their house because Mrs. Miller hadn't allowed them out of the house. Alvin and Simon answered with truth ringing in every word and Brittany hit Alvin on his good arm.

"Ow!" The red capped Chipmunk yelled. "What was that for?!"

Brittany gave him a glare. "A lot of reasons." And with that, she flipped her hair and strolled off toward homeroom. Alvin looked at his brothers, the remaining Chipettes, and the twins and they all shrugged simultaneously.

Alvin raised his eyesbrows, but didn't otherwise comment. Jeanette and Eleanor quickly said their goodbyes and expressed their gratitude at the boys coming back before walking off after their sister, and the chipmunks were left alone with the twins.

"How bad has it gotten?" Simon asked once the Chipettes were our of earshot. Alvin jerked his head up for the answer while Theodore just looked at his shoes and dug his toe in an imaginary crack on the floor.

"Well," Kitty began, "Brett has seemed to back off from the girls, but I wouldn't get my hopes up."

All three Chipmunks nodded and grimaced.

"Well," Alvin began as he started to walk off in a different direction. "We need to go check in in the office." The twins nodded and Jamie turned in the direction of their homeroom and started walking while Kitty looked back and forth between her brother and the chipmunks.

"Watch your back." She warned as she took off after her brother.

"No kidding." All three boys said at the same time as they took off at a fast pace toward the office on the other side of the building, each glancing back every once in a while.

* * *

**Please, review! I don't know when next update is gonna be. But please review anyway! **

**REVIEW! **


	22. Doctor Visit

**Well, I can honestly say that I'm back and better than ever! I sat down to write this chapter, and wrote it in about three hours, which is fast for me because I usually get sidetracked. **

**But, anyway, I was very surprised at the number of reviews I got for the last chapter. So, thank you to everyone who reviewed!**

**Now, it's time for:**

**ANNOUNCEMENTS!**

**1) (This one of waaaaay overdue, I promised to advertise this a few months ago, but I totally forgot. Sorry Narf!) Please, go to the discussions forums and comment on one of my friends forums. It's under "Rockin' with the Chipmunks" and is called Theodore/Eleanor Romances, a forgotten subject? He wanted me to post that announcement because some people aren't replying to his forum, but I noticed some post. But, please, people, go post!**

**2) For those of you who voted in my poll, thank you. But, I'm putting a new one up because I've got a few new ideas. So, if you get time, go and vote please, I want as much feedback as possible. **

**3) A lot of you have been asking for me to start The Prince, the Pauper, and the Purposeless. I don't usually work on more than one story at a time because I have no time to write anymore. (Most of my time being during the weekends.) But if everyone wants me to start that one, then I will, but you have to remember that if I do updates will be slow and staggered. Meaning, that I will update this story, then that one, this one, that one, and so on.**

**I think that's it. I hope I didin't talk your ears off, but I had to do all of that before I forgot.**

**Hope you enjoy the chapter. It's one of my longer ones. (I expect that all of my chapters will be long like this.) **

**Disclaimer: Look back at last chapter.**

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The following week was rough, but the Chipmunks were expecting it. They had been prepared for all of the harsh looks and mean words that were thrown at them, and they weren't disappointed by their classmates.

Their first encounter with these remarks was right after homeroom - their real first plunge into the social scene at school. It became apparent that right before the bell had rang, Theodore had gotten over his swinging emotions. He had taped Simon on the shoulder as he glanced back and forth between the clock and the top of his desk.

"Do we have to do this?" He had mumbled quietly, and if Simon hadn't been used to listening to Theodore's quiet voice, he wouldn't have heard it. He had quickly nodded and turned back toward Alvin, who had been trying to get his attention.

Theodore then looked back at the desk and started tracing the lines in the wood with his finger. He didn't want to go through this treatment again. He had actually been a little glad to be pulled out of school those weeks ago, and hadn't wanted to come back. But he had kept his comments to himself when he saw how much Alvin had been protesting. He didn't want to give Dave even more headaches, because his hands been full with his older brother. Plus, it wasn't usually in his character to object to something that Dave felt so strongly about.

But, now, as he sat in homeroom, with only a few people staring at him, he wished that he had addressed his concerns. Just these few eyes, twenty to be exact, because there were only ten other people -besides his brothers - in this room, made him feel uneasy. And he knew that going out in the hallway with the whole elementary staring at him, he was going to freeze up. And freezing up made him look weak, which would hint to Brett Collins that he was going to be the easy one to use to get to his brothers. He wasn't going to let that happen. He was going to try to be as strong as his brothers.

But, the only way to do that was to stay out of the public eye.

When the bell rang, almost every other student in the room evacuated as fast as possible. They had to gossip in their five minutes between classes - no doubt about the Chipmunks.

Alvin and Simon slowly stood up after everyone but the teacher, who was ignoring them, had left and they slung their backpacks onto their shoulders before turning to wait for Theodore.

Theodore continued to look down at his desk, totally ignoring his brothers. When he heard Simon sigh after about thirty seconds, he glanced up and saw that his eldest brother's eyes were filled with concern.

"Are you okay, Theodore?" He asked, his voice filled with kindness.

Theodore suddenly felt his eyes fill with tears at how much his brothers cared for him and he quickly swiped his eyes with his sleeve. He nodded but still stayed sitting in the chair.

"We gonna go?" Alvin asked as he kneled down beside Simon to be eye-level with his little brother. Simon glanced back at Alvin and waved him toward the door to go talk to Kitty and Jamie.

"Theodore?" He asked again as he stood up, his back popping in the process, and sat down on the top of Theodore's desk, "What's wrong?"

Theodore sniffed and shook his head while he stood up to grab his backpack. He knew that look on Simon's face. He wasn't going to give up until he knew exactly what was going on, but if he could distract Simon long enough, he could delay this conversation to after school.

"Nothing." He said as he cleared his throat. "I'm fine." He mentally cringed at the way his voice wavered. "Let's get to class."

Simon opened his mouth to ask another question, but Alvin placed his hand on his older brother's sholder and Simon glanced back. Alvin shook his head in a signal saying "leave it alone, talk to him when we get home". Simon nodded back and put his hand on the small of Theodore's back before carefully leading him out the door. Theodore smiled up at his two brothers before they left the room and had a feeling that no matter what happened, he would always have his brothers behind him...

The rest of the week blended together as they got back into the same exact routine as before. Nothing seemed to change from before except that the Chipmunks fellow classmates were even more vicious than before.

But, then, on Wednesday, things started to look up, because after school that day, Alvin would be getting his cast off. They spent the day with smiles on their faces, Alvin's the biggest as he let his minuscule group of friends sign his cast right before he got it off. But, they hardly any room to put their initials, because Simon and especially Theodore had taken up all the room writing little notes and signing it multiple times. Back when Alvin had first gotten the red thing, he had been so bummed about it, that Theodore and Simon had tried to make him feel better. They had both grabbed pens and had scribbled all over it. After that, he had been caught looking down and trying to read everything that was on it.

But, he thought as he smiled, he wouldn't have to walk around lopsided anymore, or have ask Simon or Theodore to help him carry his things. He would be free to do whatever he wanted. Plus, once he got it off, all three of them would be back at perfect health. Simon's ankle had become fully usable without the brace the day before and Theodore had come back to full mental health the day after they got back to school, so he was the only one with a problem still looming over them, or, he looked down, beside him actually.

So, it was, with a very excited Alvin, that the Seville family went back to the doctor's office for, what the hoped, was the last time in a while.

"Hello, boys." Dr. Chase greeted as a nurse showed the family of four into one of the examination rooms. "I'll be with you in a minute."

All three Chipmunks nodded and filed into the room silently while Dave stayed outside to talk to the doctor, but, when the boys hadn't even been alone for three seconds, he heard something crash in the room behind the closed door.

Dr. Chase jumped at the sudden noise and accidentally marked in a wrong place on the chart he was holding.

"Alvin!" They heard Simon and Theodore's voices chime together in perfect unison.

"Sorry!" They heard Alvin's reply and Dave sighed as he imagined the look on Alvin's face.

"I can pay for that." He said to the doctor as Chase shook his head and rubbed his head. He slowly turned, set the file he had in his hands on the counter at the nurse's station and spun back around on his heal to go back into the room the boys had retreated into. He wasn't really surprised that Alvin had managed to break something in the first five seconds that he had been in the room.

"No," He said, as he opened the door. He let Dave through and promptly closed it behind him before looking to examine the room. It had suffered minimal damage. Nothing was broken, Alvin had just managed to knock down the little rolling stool that the doctor was supposed to sit on while examining the patient. The soft cushion of the seat was ripped a little, but it wasn't really noticeable unless you really looked at it. A sheepish looking Alvin was sitting on the paper covered cot behind the stool while Theodore and Simon had occupied the two chairs. Dave quickly picked Theodore up, sat down, and set the smallest Chipmunk on his lap. "We've had worse damage before." He finished as he finished his assessment of the room.

"Alvin's been exicted all day." Dave said as Theodore shifted to a more comfortable position on his lap. Alvin smirked at the doctor and smiled slightly when he smirked back,

"I would suppose so." Chase replied. "You boys have been really busy. I saw you on the telly the other day."

Alvin looked at the doctor quickly after he heard that and smashed his lips together to keep the laughter that bubbled to the surface back, but a few snickers happened to break through. "Telly?" He asked behind the hand he had raised to his mouth to keep back the laughter.

Dave started to say Alvin's name, but he was quickly cut off because the door was thrown open and a boy with short blond hair ran in. He ran around Chase's back and buried his head in his chest. The boys and Dave could very faintly make out sobbing noises, and all four found something more interesting to look at in the room, trying to give the doctor and boy some privacy.

"Baker?" Chase asked, his voice going an octave higher as he grabbed the boy by the shoulders and pushed him forward. "What's wrong, son?"

The boy quickly wiped his shining green eyes and looked around for the first time realizing that his father was with a patient and their family. His face grew red and he sniffed. "Nothing." He mumbled for the first time. The Sevilles were very surprised to hear that he didn't have an Australian accent like his father. "I'll tell you later."

Chase raised as eyebrow and smiled at his son. "No, tell me right now. I'm sure the Sevilles won't mind if I step out for a moment?" He phrased the statement as a question as he looked up at Dave. Dave smiled and nodded quickly while setting Theodore on the ground and getting up to close the door behind the father and son. Theodore, not wanting to sit on Dave's lap for the moment, jumped up on the stool that Dr. Chase had previously occupied and spun around a few times.

All four sat in silence for those few moments, Alvin only breaking the silence once: "So?" He asked trying to alleviate the tension, "How about them Red Sox?" He had just grabbed a team name out of the air and was vaguely aware that no one replied.

It wasn't long before Chase came back, his son nowhere to be seen.

"Everything okay?" Dave asked as he picked Theodore back up after he had evacuated the doctor's stool.

"Everything's fine. A bully had been picking on Baker today at school and he was a little shook up is all."

All three Chipmunks froze and glanced at each other. "A bully?" Theodore squeaked. He suddenly had the urge to jump off Dave's lap and bolt out the door to find the little blond haired boy, but he made himself stay where he was to hear the story.

"Yeah," Chase said as he looked at Theodore before picking up Alvin's messed up arm and glancing over the cast, "We just moved here right before you came in with Alvin's fractured arm. I believe that Baker's first day of school was the day after Dave pulled you three out."

"What's the bully's name?" This time it was Simon who spoke. He had been silent most of the time, thoughtful, but now he had to know.

"Brett something." Chase said as he poked around on Alvin's arm. The red capped Chipmunk was stiff as a board, and had his eyes closed.

Simon looked very similar as he silently screamed at himself. It's our fault that Brett was messing with Baker. If we had stayed at school then Brett wouldn't have even known that the small boy even existed.

"How old is Baker?" Dave asked as he held Theodore still while the little boy squirmed in his lap.

"He's nine." Chase muttered as he glanced back at Dave. "Well, Alvin, I think it's about time we took that thing off, don't you agree?" Alvin nodded, his head moving in a mechanical way as his mind drifted over other things.

Theodore looked up at Dave and smiled as sweetly as he could. "Can I go wait outside? I don't want to see this."

The doctor looked at Theodore and smiled. "Don't worry about Alvin. We have a special saw to cut the cast with. It only cuts the plaster, not the skin."

Theodore shook his head and looked down at the floor. "I still don't want to be here, maybe I'll go find Baker." He slid off Dave's lap and started before the door before either adult could protest. As he was closing the door, Theodore looked at Simon, but the bespectacled Chipmunk looked lost in thought, so just closed the door and retreated into the hallway. He went up to the nurse's station and stood up on his tip-toes to see over the edge of the counter.

"Excuse me?" He asked as he waved his hand above his head. One of the nurses heard him and glanced up from her computer. She smiled and chuckled when she saw the tiny hand and the wide green eyes breaking over the counter.

"Yes, dear?" She asked as she stood up to walk around the counter so the little boy could see her. She froze when she saw the green sweatered Chipmunk and a smile came over her face. "You're Theodore Seville aren't you?" She asked.

"Yes, ma'am." Theodore replied as he smiled back up. He was used to people recognizing him and he usually spoke back to those who called him out as politely as possible, unlike Alvin.

"My son listens to your music. You're my favorite." She said as she bent down to his level.

Theodore smiled, "Thank you." He replied with as smile.

The nurse glanced back and forth before standing back up and walked quickly back around the corner. Theodore glanced stupidly at her back and was about to raise his voice to ask her where Baker was, but he heard the door behind him open and he was surprised to find Simon coming out of the room.

"It's too tense in there." He offered as an answer to Theodore's questioning gaze and Theodore nodded.

At that moment, the nurse came back around the corner with a piece of paper and pen. She saw Simon standing there with a hand on Theodore's back and her mouth almost dropped open. "Simon Seville? You're here too?" She asked as she crouched back down to look at the two Chipmunk brothers standing in front of her.

Simon raised his eyebrows, but didn't otherwise reply. He glanced at Theodore and his brother smiled while mouthing "_fan_" behind his hand. Realization came over Simon's face and he nodded.

"I know you probably get asked this all the time, but can I have your autograph?"

Simon and Theodore looked at each other before bursting out laughing. They weren't laughing because of what the nurse asked; they were laughing just for the sake to laugh. All the tension that had built up over the past few days was let off in those few chortles that they allowed themselves to let out. The nurse looked at them, startled for a few seconds, but their high pitched giggles were contagious and soon she was laughing too.

But then, Alvin ran out of the examination room with his formerly plaster covered arm free and breathing the open air. He glanced between his brothers and the nurse and couldn't help but start laughing himself. He carefully put his hand on Simon's shoulder to keep himself upright and Simon, startled at the unexpected weight, fell to the floor. He dragged Alvin with him because the red capped Chipmunk had been leaning on him. Theodore, who had been standing right in front of Simon, fell too and all three once again found themselves in a heap of limbs and giggles.

"Man," Alvin said as he wiped his eyes after the laughing storm had passed, "it feels good to laugh again."

Simon nodded in agreement as he carefully stood up and grabbed both of his brother's arms to help them up.

"My stomach feels like it's gonna burst!" Theodore giggled as he held said stomach.

The nurse smiled at all three as she reached up to touch her aching mouth and cheeks. "It must be very interesting living with you three." She commented as she spotted Dave coming out of the room with Alvin's red cast in his hand.

Simon looked up at her and held out his hand. "Now, about that autograph." He said. The nurse's eyes widened and she handed Simon the paper. He walked toward the nurse's station and set the paper on the counter to sign it. His arms barely broke the top and he had to stand on the tips of his toes to write legibly. The nurse watched, excited, as Simon placed the pen on the paper, but suddenly, he looked up. "Who should I make this to?" He asked as he indicated the paper with his hand.

"My son, Eddie." The nurse replied as she clapped her hands while Simon wrote a quick message on the top of the page before very carefully signing his name underneath. He then handed the paper to Alvin who looked around before pushing Simon to the ground. Simon fell onto his hands and knees and looked up to glare at Alvin. The blue eyed Chipmunk smirked and stepped onto Simon's back. Simon winced as he felt the pressure from Alvin's feet on his back, and Alvin and Theodore felt it a few seconds later. Alvin mentally scolded himself for forgetting that he could feel Simon's pain. But, then, he quickly scrawled a message and signed his name extravagantly, the "A" being the most predominate feature.

Theodore was next, but before he could sign, Dave walked up to them and looked at Alvin standing on Simon's back, writing the final letters of his name. He raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything. Then Alvin jumped down and Simon stood up and popped his back before turning to glare at Alvin. Alvin handed the piece of paper to Theodore and the smallest Chipmunk looked helpless. He couldn't reach the counter! His eyes barely broke the top.

Dave, seeing his distress, grabbed Theodore under the arms. "Up you go." He grunted as he held Theodore up to the counter to write. The small boy smiled his thanks and carefully bent over in Dave's arms to write on the little remaing space left by Alvin's huge signature. Since he had a small space, he wrote a small note, only a few words long and signed his name as nicely as he could.

Dave set him back on the ground after he was done and Theodore ran back up to the nurse and handed her the paper. "Thank you." She said as she beamed.

"No problem." Alvin replied as he continued to glare with Simon.

"You're welcome." Simon said next as he broke eye contact with Alvin for a second to glance up at the nurse. Theodore just nodded and smiled.

"You guys hang out here for a minute. I'm gonna go talk to Dr. Chase about Alvin's recuperation." Dave said as he turned around. "Don't get into any trouble, Alvin." He threw the last part over his shoulder and Alvin scoffed.

"Theodore?" The nurse asked, heaving put the autographed paper behind into her bag. "What was it you wanted earlier?"

"Oh," Theodore replied as he glanced at his brothers. They were still glaring at each other. "I wanted to know where Baker Chase was."

The nurse nodded. "Ah, Dr. Chase's boy. I think he's in his father's office." She pointed down the hall at a closed door with a few words stenciled on it. Theodore couldn't see what they said, but he could guess. He glanced back at his brothers and noticed that they were both too into their glaring contest to notice what he and the nurse were talking about.

Theodore made a spur of a moment decision and took off toward Dr. Chase's office. He knew that he would have to make this conversation quick if he wanted to talk to the boy alone. Because, in about five minutes, Simon and Alvin would notice that he was missing because they would start feeling sick, but he knew he had to talk to the boy.

He tapped on the door with his knuckles, "Baker?" He asked.

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**Hope you enjoyed it! **

**Also, Baker is one of the people who won my little contest a few months back. I'm slowly starting to incorperate all the winners in, because I totally forgot about it until someone reminded me the other day.**

**Please, review! I want every single person who reviewed the last chapter to review this one. And remember to tell me whether I should start the other story and to vote in my poll! **


	23. Confrontations

**A/N: Got nothing to report. Enjoy the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Look back at whatever chapter has it.**

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Theodore tapped on the door with his knuckles, "Baker?" He asked.

"Go away." A shaking voice answered. Theodore heard a lock click into the place on the other side of the door and sighed. "Can I please come in? It's me. Theodore."

The little boy on the other side of the door hesitated for a moment before getting up. From what he had heard and read, Theodore was nice and was really good at solving problems. Plus, he could always kick him out of the office if Theodore upset him.

Baker quickly turned the lock on the door and opened it to see the youngest in the Chipmunk trio. He had on his regular attire, right down to the blue sneakers and he had the same smile that Baker recognized from the newspapers and magazines.

"Hi." Theodore said awkwardly as he knotted his hands together.

"Hello." Baker sniffed as he held the door open wider. "Come on in."

Theodore smiled his thanks and quickly stepped into the dark room, letting the door fall closed behind him. It was a simple office, with only a desk, chair and potted plant in the corner. There were certificates lining the walls, but Theodore could pick up a vibe that Baker spent more time in this office than his dad did.

_Probably only comes in here after his shift is over. _

Baker carefully moved around Theodore and jumped up into his father's chair. The force of the small boy hitting the chair caused it to spin on its axis and Theodore noticed a small smile tugging at Baker's lips as he spun. But once the chair stopped, Baker had the frown set firm back on his face and Theodore couldn't help but wonder if he had just imagined the smile.

"Baker?" He asked and the blond boy in the chair jerked his head up to look at Theodore, as if he hadn't known the green clad chipmunk was there. He looked at Theodore, waiting for him to continue, but the smallest chipmunk seemed to be thinking about to keep going. When he didn't after a few seconds, Baker cleared his throat.

"Yes?" He asked as he jumped down from the chair. As he made his way around the desk, Theodore couldn't help but notice that Baker was really small for age. He was about the same size as Theodore. In fact, they came about eye-level with each other.

"Um," Theodore started again as he sorted through his thoughts again. Baker looked at him expectantly, waiting for some well thought out speech.

_That's Simon's department, not mine. _Theodore thought to himself as he shook his head. Suddenly, that thought reminded him of his brothers and he looked around for a clock. He spotted one on the wall and sighed when he realized he had only been away from his brothers for only five minutes. "I just wanted to apologize." Theodore finished after a few seconds.

Baker looked stunned at that statement and he wasn't afraid to show it. He cocked an eyebrow and snorted slightly. "For what?"

"Well," Here Theodore rubbed the back of his neck. "If my brothers and I hadn't left the school in the first place, Brett wouldn't have started to tease you."

Baker shook his head and pursed his lips. "It's not your fault." He argued as he finished coming around the desk. He steered Theodore toward the window and Theodore helped him pull the blinds up. "I'm small for my age. I bet that even if you had stayed, Brett still would've targeted me. I'm smaller than him, so he automatically thinks I can't fight back."

Theodore smiled as he looked out the window, Baker's words echoing in his head. This was by far the best view he had ever seen out of a hospital window. Dr. Chase's office overlooked a small green area the hospital had set aside for patients who wanted to go outside to walk around in. Every few yards there was a fountain and Theodore could almost hear the water as it gurgled in the small water fixtures. "It's beautiful."

"I know." Baker said as he turned to look at Theodore. "This is one of the reasons that I love to hang out here. I enjoy looking out this window every day because it faces the west and I can just catch the sunset over those buildings." He pointed off into the distance and Theodore's breath caught. It was just about eight o'clock and the sun was dipping below the buildings. The silver windows of those huge structures caught the light and reflected it back to them. It flashed across the small green square below them and Theodore smiled softly.

He took a deep breath and felt totally relaxed. This was one of the quietest and stillest moments that Theodore had experienced in a while and he intended to enjoy every minute of it.

It's a good thing he did too, because things were going to get far from relaxing in the next few days.

XxXxXx

The next day, things were surprisingly quiet. No one bothered the boys, no one looked at them funny, and not one person attempted to say anything to them. It was like everyone forgot they existed.

_Better to not exist then to be on the most wanted list_. Simon thought to himself as he hiked his backpack up higher on his shoulders.

The day ran smoothly, and all three followed their schedules to the letter as they walked mechanically in the hallways, not speaking because they were afraid that they would break the spell set on the school. All three were very aware of the fact that Brett glared at them as they passed and they were very wary around anyone who had been associated with him in the past few months.

But, they managed to make it to seventh period_. Only one more to go_. Simon thought as he grabbed his pencil out of his backpack after he had sat down at his desk in Mrs. Barrett's class_. We might actually get through one day without any of us getting hurt, mentally, emotionally, or physically!_

Of course, Simon's thoughts weren't audible to the whole class, but it seemed like the whole classroom tensed up after he thought that. It was as if they could sense how he had jinxed himself.

Mrs. Barrett sent to work quickly, making the tense mood of the classroom dissipate. They were to read chapter five, section two out of the book about punnet squares, and then pick up the worksheet on the section. If they finished, they were to do something quietly, and, no Alvin, poking Simon in the back and making faces at him was not doing something quietly. Simon had heard so many variations to the end of that usual speech at the beginning of class that he had caught himself trying to guess what she was going to say before she said it.

As Simon, cracked open his book, the phone on the teacher's desk rang and the whole class jumped. Everyone laughed quietly at the simultaneous reaction, but they didn't comment, because, by now, Mrs. Barrett had the phone pressed up his her ear.

"I understand, but he has work to do." She argued as she glanced around the room, not really looking at one person for more than a few seconds. Simon watched the pattern of her eyes as the bounced around the room. His stomach dropped.

_She's not looking at us! _

He felt his head hit the top of his desk and he had no idea how it had gotten there, just that one of them had been called somewhere. Alone.

"Simon?" The tallest chipmunk jerked his head up at the sound of his name and his heat hammered wildly in his chest. He had reacted so quickly, that his brain was so pre-occupied with keeping him from going into cardiac arrest that it didn't catch the pitch of the voice before both Theodore and Alvin's heart's were going at the speed of light in sync with his.

"Simon?" He heard the voice call again. This time, his brain processed the voice and he sighed in relief when he heard Theodore's high pitched voice. "Are you okay?"

"No." Simon groaned as he gripped his hair between his fingers. "When Mrs. Barrett was looking around the room, she avoided us. That means that one of us was called in."

Both Theodore and Alvin gulped at the same time and all three stared at the teacher as she carefully placed the phone on the hook and looked up at them. "Alvin Seville." She called in a hoarse voice. Alvin felt his heart move into his throat and his stomach switch places with his lungs before he carefully got to his feet, wary of the fact that if he were to fall, he would crack his head on the desk in front of him.

"Yes?" He asked, his voice shaking.

Mrs. Barrett cleared her throat before answering his question. "You're needed in the office, right away."

Alvin whined to himself and willed his feet to take him to the door, but they wouldn't budge. Finally, after a few precious seconds, Alvin managed to force his muscles to loosen up and he walked toward the door to the classroom.

As he grabbed the hallpass off the hook next to the door he looked back at his brothers. Theodore looked scared while Simon sent Alvin a look that clearly said_: "Watch your back_." Alvin nodded to them both and carefully stepped out of the room.

Suddenly, he felt a stabbing pain in his forehead, and Alvin stumbled forward, clutching his head with one hand while shooting one hand out of keep him from hitting his head on the hard floor of the hallway.

In the room, both Simon and Theodore were clutching their own heads. Both were in so much pain that neither could speak, let alone think. But Simon's mind manage to churn out one question before he was so overcome with pain that it was all he could do to stay awake.

_Did the connection get stronger? _

Alvin, on the other hand, managed to struggle to his feet and he was slowly trudging down the hallway with his head cradled between his right hand and his shoulder. He had his left hand on the wall and was using the cold surface of the white thing to guide himself through the school.

The walk to the office seemed excruciating, for Alvin and his brothers, because with each step he took, their headaches seemed to increase ten fold and all three were close to blacking-out when Alvin finally managed to get only one turn away from the office.

"Well, well, well." Alvin froze when he heard a cold voice speak behind him and he almost collapsed to the floor from part exhaustion, part fright when a huge shadow loomed over him. "Who do we have here? Alvin Seville?"

Alvin almost squeaked in alarm when Brett moved in front of him. His blue eyes widened slightly and he totally forgot about his headache. He would not let Brett get the better of him this time. He shot upward so he was standing straight up and got ready to clock Brett into next week.

But Brett was quicker. He shot forward and popped Alvin in the jaw. The chipmunk, being so small and lightweight, flew backward and hit the wall before crumpling to the ground. His head hit the ground with a loud crack. That coupled with the fact that he had such a huge headache caused Alvin to go unconscious right after he hit the ground the last thing that he remember before letting the darkness take him was two yellow Converse running up the hallway toward him.

-A minutes earlier-

In the class room, both Simon and Theodore were in so much pain they couldn't concentrate on anything other than breathing and keeping themselves awake, because they knew that if either one of them were to black out the other two would follow, no matter how far away they were.

Simon and Theodore were sick with worry about Alvin. That was one of the only things they could do while they clutched their heads and tried to ignore the people staring at them. They could worry about Alvin and the fact that he was walking around in the hallways of a school whose students had rejected and hurt all three of them. They could worry about whether Brett was prowling around the hallways right now, or if he managed to happen upon their brother. What would he do?

Suddenly, both felt an emotion they couldn't pinpoint flush through their systems and their headaches went away. It was a burning emotion. Simon ignored the urge to punch something as he tried to figure out what this weird feeling was.

Miraculously, when Simon turned around, he found Theodore glaring so intensely at something that he almost choked on his own spit as the swallowed to re-wet his throat. He followed the directed Theodore's green eyes were staring and his own gray eyes widened when he spied the boy Theodore was glaring at so intensely. He was of middle height and had dark skin and dark eyes. His name was Kevin.

Kevin was one of Brett's closest followers and he had been on of the firsts to attempt to hurt Simon and his brothers. Seeing the look Theodore was throwing Kevin, Simon almost slapped himself for not figuring out what the emotion was earlier.

It was hate.

He didn't know why this feeling had suddenly hit, but he had a sinking feeling that it had something to do with Alvin.

Then, just as quickly as the pain had gone, it came back with a vengeance. It attacked a new part of their heads and they managed to look at each other for a fleeting second before before both blacked out and crumpled to the floor.

* * *

**Well, who can tell me which part of the plot this chapter was? Anybody? Anybody? Well, you keep guessing, because I have no idea either. It's either the climax or the turning point. One of those two. **

**Anway, please review and I might manage to get the next chapter up before Thursday. No promises though.**

**PLEASE REVIEW! Or I shall sick my evil wrapping paper of doom on you! **


	24. IMPORTANT AN! READ NOW!

**Well, I guess we all knew this was coming, but I decided that I might as well make it official.**

**That's right everyone; you can put down your popcorn and get ready to throw it at the screen. I'm officially putting this story on hold. **

**It just kills me to do this to all of you (myself included) but my life has become a roller coaster lately, and I can't juggle this story, the other fanfic on the Seville Sisters page, and the rest of my life (which has currently fallen to the bottom of that list, thank you very much). **

**It took me a while to get to this point because I had actually tried to write the chapter... four or five different times. It just wouldn't come out right.**

**You see, I started this fic back at the beginning of the summer (pauses to think about what a long time span that is) and it was going strong up through about... I think it was September that my dog died. Then, I hit a rut, basically because I was mourning, but once I got over it, I tried to sit down and write more and my writing style change. (Wow, run-on.) Don't get me wrong, I like the way it changed, but it didn't really fit this story, so I had a hard time actually getting the story to sound like I wanted it to. (I had to edit so many things, it was surreal.)**

**And the next chapter has just gotten me. The way I had planned out this story at the beginning of the summer is totally different from how it actually turned out, so I can't exactly go back and look at my notes on this one. **

**I'm just gonna say it and get it over with: I've dug a hole too big and I can't find a way out. There I said it, I made this story too complex for me to end it without someone dying... or getting seriously injured and ALMOST dying. (I'm not going that far.) The only (safe) way for me to end this freakin' thing is to introduce a character that I've used so many times and just introduced in _Alllviiin!: Through the Years_. **

**So, you see my dilemma. I'm tied up in situation where I either kill someone, or use a character that was just introduced in a different story and ruin a really good thing. (I don't wanna use Daniel, I really don't.) **

**So, I guess what I'm saying here is: Don't be looking for an update on this story for a while. (Unless I can get an idea as to how I can end it.) If you have an idea to help me, then go ahead! Tell me! But in a PM. I don't want everyone out there to see it. (Note: Any ideas you give me will probably be edited and tweaked so even the person who gave it to me can't guess what's gonna happen.) **

**I'm sorry to everyone who's been following this thing. But, I'm not done writing. Quite the contrary actually. I'll be started _The Prince, The Pauper, and The Purposeless_ (info on my profile) soon and I'm currently writing a story with Kitty Seville on our Seville Sisters account. (As if you didn't already know) Go check it out! We're desperate for reviews and we could use some encouragement! (Link of the Pro)**

**Thanks again for reading this stupid A/N. And feel free to review, this one's staying in here. **

**Remember: Ideas! **


	25. Waking Up

**Well, I guess I'm back and it's all thanks to Lord Narf! He basically gave me the whole rest of the plot to this story, and I'm still amazed at the fact that one simple message can open the floodgates of my brain. **

**That's right everyone, I have finally broken through my slump. (With a little help mind you) and have brought you the long awaited chapter. It's a little short, but all of us will have to deal with it. I wanted to make it longer, but my mind has put up a mental block on his chapter. I can't write any more. Hopefully I'll be able to write the next one fluently and quickly. **

**Enjoy the chapter and try to ignore all my typos. I don't feel like proof reading.**

**Disclaimer: Meh. Look back at one of the other chapters that have it.**

* * *

Simon cracked open his eyes and groaned quietly when he recognized the brown carpet that covered almost every classroom in the elementary school. He let his head rest against the ground for a few seconds before flipping over and blinking as bright light hit his gray eyes. He snapped his eyes shut again and threw his hands up to cover the sensitive orbs instinctively.

"Simon?" He heard Mrs. Barrett's kind voice and he held back another groan as he opened his eyes a crack. He felt Theodore stir beside him as he took in his surroundings.

Almost every person in the room was hovering over his brother and him. They all looked slightly shocked that Simon and Theodore had passed out simultaneously and some of the faces looked relieved. The only face that was missing – Simon noticed – was Kevin's.

Theodore didn't bother flipping over. He just lifted his head and looked up at Simon with clouded eyes. The green things flashed as Theodore took in the situation around him and when he looked back at Simon, his eyes were crystal clear.

Simon carefully pushed himself up to a sitting position and he rubbed his head where it had cracked on the floor. A lump was formed and Simon filed it away under the _battle-wounds_ category as he assessed the damage to Theodore.

The small boy was no worse for wear. He hadn't managed to hit his head on the way down like Simon and he just looked a little dazed and disoriented more than anything.

Simon prepared himself to stand, but Mrs. Barrett stopped him.

"Don't move too fast." She advised as she made all the students in the room back up to give Simon and Theodore some room.

Simon nodded, not really hearing her, as he sat back down. He grabbed Theodore's arm and gave it a tug so the smaller boy was closer to him. When Theodore was in range, Simon ran his hands over the green clad boy's head to check for bumps invisible to the eye and nodded to himself when he saw that Theodore had none.

Theodore looked at him with questioning eyes as Simon looked him over. Simon shook his head to stop the questions that Theodore were about to ask because he knew that almost every ear in the room was trained on them, waiting to hear their first words.

"How long were we out?" Simon asked as he let Theodore go. He quickly got to his feet before Mrs. Barrett could stop him and he pulled Theodore up before looking back at the teacher.

"Five minutes." The educator answered, in shock.

"No one moved us, correct?" Simon asked, keeping his voice emotionless. Now wasn't the time to give these people a show. Alvin was in trouble and they knew they had to get through his class before they could find him.

Mrs. Barrett stared at Simon in shock. This boy was acting like he passed out on a daily basis! "N-no." She answered as she shook her head. "I think you two should go see the nurse."

Simon contemplated this suggestion for a good thirty seconds before replying. Going to the nurse would be the perfect opportunity to search for Alvin, but, he had a feeling, that whatever – or whoever – had harmed Alvin was still out there and he wasn't willing to put Theodore – or himself – in that kind of danger. "We're fine." He answered with the grace of a monarch as he fell back into his chair. His voice held an emotion that Mrs. Barrett couldn't place and she narrowed her eyes.

"I think you should."

Simon resisted the urge to roll his eyes and he looked at Theodore for help.

Theodore seemed to get the message almost instantly because he looked up at the teacher with wide eyes. "I feel fine, Mrs. Barrett." He said, laying on the sweetness. "Can't we just stay in class?"

Mrs. Barrett narrowed her eyes again, but she didn't say anything about the subject again. If even Theodore was willing to stay in the room, then, she decided, they were well enough to stay in class.

"Get back to work." She commanded as she walked back to her desk, careful to keep an eye on the two remaining Seville brothers as they bent their heads to look back at their books.

--

_A few minutes earlier_

_But Brett was quicker. He shot forward and popped Alvin in the jaw. The chipmunk, being so small and lightweight, flew backward and hit the wall before crumpling to the ground. His head hit the ground with a loud crack. That coupled with the fact that he had such a huge headache caused Alvin to go unconscious right after he hit the ground the last thing that he remembered before letting the darkness take him was two yellow Converse running up the hallway toward him. _

Brett's eyes widened when he saw Alvin pass out. He hadn't meant for _that_ to happen! He carefully spun around and moved to run back down the hallway he had come from, but he froze when he saw Kitty standing in front of him, glaring holes in his forehead.

"What. Did. You. Do?" She asked with widened eyes as she glanced back and forth between the unconscious Alvin and the amazed Brett.

The bully didn't answer as he tried to move around Kitty, but she was small and could move quicker. She moved back in front of him and stopped him again.

"You're gonna get it, you know?"

Brett snorted. "What? You're half my size, plus, you wouldn't hit your own cousin." He sneered and made a move to get around Kitty again. She saw it coming and managed to stay in front of him.

"Not me, you nitwit. Karma."

Brett coughed something that sounded like, "idiot" and he rolled his eyes. "Who the heck is Karma?"

Kitty refused the urge to slap her forehead and she rolled her eyes in return. "Never mind. Just remember: whatever goes around comes around."

Brett stared at her stupidly before darting forward. Kitty let him go, and she smiled slightly when she heard him slip when he slid around the corner. There was a crash and a muffled curse before his foot steps began to fade into the distance.

She quickly turned before making her way back to Alvin. She poked him lightly to see how out of it he was. His eyes opened a tad bit and Kitty let out a sigh of relief when she saw that his eyes weren't dilated. "C'mon, Alvin." She said as she gingerly helped him to his feet. He let out a groan in protest but made his feet rest firmly on the ground. "Let's get you to the nurse." He tried to protest slightly, but gave up after only a few words. Kitty smiled at her small victory and half carried Alvin toward the nurse's office, mumbling about how he would be fine.

But, she had to wonder, how could she make Alvin believe that if she didn't really believe it herself?

--

"Dave." The receptionist in the main office called out slightly after she hung up the phone. "We've found Alvin."

Dave bolted upward and he half-ran across the room. "Where is he?!" He asked when he got to her desk.

She winced under his intense gaze. "The nurse's office."

Dave looked at her for a few seconds before taking a few deep breaths to calm his quickening pulse. "I'm sorry, what?"

She bit her lip before replying. "Alvin's in the nurse's office…"

Dave blinked once before answering. "And, why is he in the nurse's office?"

"He was… um… attacked…"

Dave's eyes bulged and his calm façade dropped. "What?!"

"He was making his way up here with a boy named Brett Collins hit him."

Dave's mouth dropped open in shock. "I came here to speak with all three of my boys at the same time." He wrung his hands in agitation and glared at the secretary. "Why was Alvin coming up here alone?"

She looked back and forth across the room, trying to avoid his eyes. "We didn't want to disturb the class by taking out three of the students."

Dave sighed, exasperated, and his shoulders slumped. "Never mind." He then turned on his heal and marched out of the room toward the nurse's office.

* * *

**I dunno. I think this chapter was a little lacking, but beggars can't be choosers. I'm getting back into the swing of writing this story again and you'll have to give it time.**

**I could really use reviews at the moment. You'd be surprised what a huge boost one simple review can give me. **

**I'll be posting The Prince, the Pauper, and the Purposeless soon, so keep an eye out for that. I'm still working out the kinks in the plot.**

**Please! Please! Go review Alllviiin!: Through the Years if you haven't already. We could really use the reviews! Link on my profile! (SevilleSisters) **

**Review! **


	26. Feelings

**Well, here's the next chapter. I'm slowly working myself back into this writing a story-that-needs-to-be-updated-every-few-days thing. And I've made the transition very easily. **

**This next chapter can get confusing. There's lots of stuff happening at the same time, and I changed the tense a lot. If you don't understand, tell me in your review, or PM me. **

**Disclaimer: Look back**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The next day, only Simon and Theodore showed up at school. Alvin had been confined to his room because he had a slight concussion and would be out of commission for about two days. When Simon and Theodore had left the house, he hadn't even bothered to send them off.

"We're leaving, Alvin!" Dave had called up the stairs.

Alvin, who had his head firmly planted into his pillow, yelled out a muffled "Bye, Theodore! Don't trip, Simon!" And then shut his eyes as he prepared for the pain that would eventually follow after they had left.

Dave had sighed silently as he held open the door for Simon and Theodore, careful to keep an eye them to see if they would mange to get out the door without doubling over it pain. It killed him to separate them, but it was only their fifth day back at school and he didn't want them to miss it if it were possible. But, he knew that if they even hinted they were getting sick, he would have keep them home too.

Simon and Theodore showed no signs as they boarded the car and they managed to make it the whole drive to school without even the slightest headache.

When they finally arrived at school, they glanced at each other for a second before hopping out of the car and onto the sidewalk. Dave watched them through the window, his eyes unusually keen as he watched them walk toward the building. There was no sight of sickness or pain.

He shook his head to himself before switching gears and continuing forward out of the drop off line. He then exited onto the freeway and drove silently back toward home, turning the radio up as he went.

Alvin still had his head pressed to his pillow when Dave came back. The boy didn't seem to have moved an inch, but he had changed out of his pajamas and was now in his blue jean shorts and red shirt. It was a hot day today and Alvin wanted to be comfortable. His brothers had had the same foresight; because, they had both dressed in almost the same style as Alvin, except Simon's shorts were khaki.

Alvin grunted when he heard the door open and he turned over to look at Dave with shinning eyes. He looked annoyed, but Dave ignored the look and pulled his head back out of the room before going back down the stairs. He turned on the television and set out to make a surprise lunch for Alvin, and to keep his mind off of his middle sized son.

Soon, Alvin came drifting down the stairs. He stumbled slightly when he got to the bottom, but managed to stay on his feet and he carefully padded into the kitchen with bare feet. Dave ignored him as he poured Alvin a glass of apple juice and set it in front of the red shirted child. Alvin gulped it down so fast that if Dave had blinked, he would've missed it.

Alvin left the glass on the counter and walked across the front foyer and into the den. Dave heard the television flip through a few channels before Alvin settled on the twelve o'clock news.

Dave stopped what he was doing as he glanced in the direction of the living room. _Alvin_ was watching the _news_? He shook his head slightly and blinked before stepping around the corner and walked across the hardwood floor in from of the front door. He stepped a little too loudly, to make sure that Alvin knew he was coming.

Alvin didn't glance up when Dave sat on the arm of the couch, stiff as a board. He glanced back and forth between the TV and Alvin, not really listening to what was being said.

But, the human ear is trained to pick up certain words when you drift off; whether they be your name, the name of your children, or the name of their band.

"_The Chipmunks have returned back to school, but they weren't welcomed with open arms like everyone expected. Alvin, the leader of the group, was physically attacked yesterday, Thursday, and is not in school today. The child, who attacked him, was suspended for a week, but, most people don't think this will end the problem."_

Suddenly, the screen flickered and died and Alvin whipped around. "How did they find out?!" He asked, his voice cracking and his eyes lighting up in anger.

Dave, who was startled by Alvin's sudden outburst, jumped and he fell backward off the couch. He picked himself up before answering. "I don't know, Alvin."

Alvin rolled his eyes and pursed his lips before turning back around and hitting the button on the remote to turn the TV back on. The news was on another topic, but Alvin still hit a few more buttons and it flipped to a different channel. Alvin glanced at Dave once before jumping off the couch and starting for the stairs, but he froze, his foot in the air.

Suddenly, his head whipped around and he looked at Dave, his eyes sparking.

"Simon and Theodore." He mumbled before shooting forward. He made it to the front door before Dave could stop him, but Dave caught him on the driveway.

"Let go of me, Dave!" Alvin yelled as he fought against Dave's strong grip. Dave didn't loosen his hold on Alvin as he picked the still struggling boy up and half ran back into the house. Once they were inside, Dave set Alvin back on the ground, but managed to keep his hold on his arm. He looked Alvin in his still smoldering eyes.

"What happened?"

--

_-Earlier- _

Simon and Theodore entered the school alone, avoiding both the Chipettes and Kitty and Jamie. They managed to get through first and second period without so much as a funny look.

Third period came and went, and Theodore had noticed a few of his fellow classmates open their mouths to talk to both him and Simon, but they had lost their nerve at the last second.

So, when lunch rolled around after fourth period, he addressed this to Simon.

Simon looked at him, his gray eyes unreadable as he processed what Theodore had said and soon he spun around in his chair and his eyes scanned the cafeteria.

They caught nothing unusual. There were a few people looking in their direction, but that didn't mean that they were watching them; they _were_ sitting in the direction of the serving lines.

Simon turned around and cocked an eyebrow at Theodore. He opened his mouth to say something, but a timid voice from behind him stopped him.

"Simon? Theodore?" Simon whipped his head around and Theodore looked up from his plate, his mouth still filled with food. A girl with shoulder length black hair was watching them carefully, her dark brown eyes filled with uncertainty as she waited for their reaction. Simon carefully pulled her name from his mind and bit his lip. Maybelline was a sweet girl and she had been on of the only people who didn't pick on them when Brett was around. But, then again, she didn't openly oppose Brett like Kitty and Jamie.

"Yes, May?"

She squirmed a little under his gray gaze and shifted from foot to foot. "I was wondering if I could sit with you…"

Simon exchanged a glance with Theodore and the small boy nodded before looking around the room. He caught Baker's gaze and the boy looked up from where he was sitting by himself. Theodore waved him over and the small boy's eyes lit up. He grabbed his tray and practically ran across the lunch room to meet them.

When Baker arrived, Simon nodded at May and the girl's face lit up before she dropped her tray on the table by Simon. She scooted her chair under the table and looked around for a moment before taking a small bite of her hamburger.

Soon, Kitty and Jamie appeared with the Chipettes in tow and all five crowded around the table with the other four and soon, no one had any elbow room at the small round table.

But, the table remained silent as all nine of the elementary school children started to eat. There was no sound other than the sound of their jaws moving up and down.

But, that silence was shattered as another girl walked up the table. She had blond hair, blue eyes and a whole lot of attitude. She and Brittany had battled time and time again over who was more pretty/popular, but she, once Brett had come to power, she had basically disappeared. To tell the truth, the boys had totally forgotten that she had existed.

Brittany didn't.

She scoffed as the girl approached and rolled her eyes. "What do you want, Brianne?" She flipped her pony tail over her shoulder and rolled her eyes again.

The girl sneered at Brittany before turning to Simon and Theodore, her expression morphing almost instantly. She smiled and cocked her head to the side. "How's Alvin doing?"

Simon and Theodore stared when they heard the concerned note in her voice. "F-Fine…" They managed together as they shared a look.

Brianne's face took on a relieved expression and her shoulders slumped like the weight of the world had been taken off her shoulders.

Simon and Theodore turned back around, expecting her to leave, but a few seconds later, they saw Brittany's head snap up. "What _now_?!" She growled out as she stabbed her fork into her plate. Jeanette and Eleanor grabbed her arms.

Brianne's took a few steps back at Brittany's hostile tone, but she managed to speak her next statement with her head held high.

"On behalf of the rest of the school," She glanced back at the table she had been at before and they nodded at her. "We're sorry."

Simon and Theodore's jaws hit the floor while everyone else at the table shared looks.

"Woah." Kitty mumbled. "_That_ was unexpected."

--

Right after lunch, Simon and Theodore were practically skipping with happiness as they walked down the hall, their small group of close friends circling them; Brianne had joined the outskirts of the group along with Baker and May.

They walked confidently down the hallways, happy that they had managed to reconcile with the rest of the school without even trying.

"Seville!" They heard a male voice echo across the hall.

Well, almost everyone.

Kevin, the boy from their Science class, marched toward them and he grabbed Simon's glasses off his face. Before Simon could react, he smashed them against the floor.

The whole hallway held its breath as Simon bent down and grabbed blue things. A few pieces of glass tinkled to the ground and Simon looked up at Kevin, his eyes burning with a fire that could match Alvin's.

"What," He asked, his voice strangely calm as he took a few steps in Kevin's direction, "was that?"

Theodore grabbed Simon's shoulder and pulled him back, his own eyes sparking, while Jeanette riffled through Simon's backpack for the spare pair of glasses he carried around.

Finally, she found them and slipped the black pair onto his face. Simon pushed them upward and his eyes were magnified. Almost every person within a five foot radius could see that his anger was subsiding.

Kevin saw this as well and he moved forward. He prepared to punch Simon in the face, but Theodore jumped in front of his brother and closed his eyes as he waiting for the punch to land.

Kevin hesitated as he looked at the innocent face that was Theodore Seville. He could hit Simon, and Alvin, but, for him, Theodore was off limits.

Simon noticed Kevin's weakening nerve and he pushed Theodore behind him.

Big mistake.

Once Theodore was out of the way, Kevin let his fist continue in its intended path. It smashed into Simon's jaw and he flew backwards, in the same fashion as Alvin.

This is what Alvin felt while he had been stomping toward the stairs. He had felt a vague pain in his jaw, in almost the exact same place that Simon had been punched, and, almost immediately, he reacted. If it hadn't been for Dave's quick wits and long legs, he never would've caught Alvin, and the red capped Chipmunk would've run all the way to the school without a second thought, to defend his brothers.

It hadn't occurred to him that, somehow, the connection hadn't dwindled and died, like he had thought, but had only subsided a little. He had his brothers could be separated, but they could still feel each other's pain. But, then again, the pain in Alvin's jaw wasn't as strong as Simon's, and in that sense, it had shrunk.

As Alvin explained this to Dave, Simon was struggling to his feet. He glared at Kevin, but didn't retaliate.

He just grabbed Theodore and turned. He continued down the hallway, ignoring the threats that Kevin threw at him.

* * *

**Well, there you go.**

**Oh, and just an F.Y.I. I will not be writing a Valentines Day oneshot. Don't ask. It's not gonna happen. I absolutely hate Valentines Day, and since I don't really like the Chipettes, I'd probably do something that would make a lotta people mad. I'd rather not get myself into that mess, thank you very much. **

**Thanks for reading! **

**Please review! If you review, I might, just might, try to update this story before The Prince, the Pauper, and the Purposeless. Maybe, depends on what the people want. **

**rEvIeW! **


	27. Coming Home

**Well, you guys. I've finally found time to write this thing. After my serious bought with writer's block, I thought this story was seriously done for, but I guess I was wrong. Which I'm okay with. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. **

* * *

"- then someone punched Simon," Alvin finished the retelling of the story behind why he had practically bolted into the street. He studied Dave's face carefully, trying to be sure that he had said all the right things.

Dave watched Alvin for a moment, marveling at both the speed this middle sized son had spoken and his need to make sure his brothers were okay. Sure, Alvin had always been protective, but never to the point that he rushed out without thinking of this own safety first.

Alvin, beginning to get unnerved by Dave's unblinking eyes, started to scoot toward the door – his jaw still throbbing slightly. Dave caught the back of this son's shirt and hauled him back into the living room.

"Hey!" Alvin protested at the sudden change in direction. He struggled to get out of Dave's grip, but it was unbreakable. He tried to shrug out of his shirt, but Dave had been victim to that trick before. He grabbed Alvin's arm before the boy get free from the red fabric and made the capped chipmunk look him in the eye.

"We can't do anything now. What're we gonna do? Show up at the school saying you had a 'feeling'?" Alvin's eyes widened at Dave's I'm-not-gonna-beat-around-the-bush attitude, but he shook his head in answer.

Dave started into Alvin's blue orbs for a few more moments before breaking the gaze, satisfied that there was no flicker of hidden agenda. Alvin didn't know this, but his eyes had always been his downfall. No matter how good an actor that boy was, he never managed to mask the intention of what he was going to do in his blue eyes. That's why, a few months ago, Dave had switched to the 'look-me-in-the-eyes' tactic that many parents practiced. It seemed to work in the fact that Alvin had never been very much of a good liar when you looked him straight on, and his eyes always flickered with unhidden emotion of what he was going to do.

Alvin sent Dave a glare that would make anyone who wasn't used to him flinch and stomped his way back toward the stairs. He slammed his feet down hard on each step and made sure to jump hard in the hallway before slamming the door to his room behind him.

Dave rolled his eyes and picked up a magazine – Alvin has always been a theatric. Dave knew it was partly his fault that Alvin was so… drama queen-ish… He _had_ been the one who had plunged the boys into the topsy-turvy world of show business when they were still only toddlers. Heck, they were still kids anyway. He knew sometimes it was hard on them, and Alvin acting like the whole world revolved around him sometimes was just his way of adjusting to everything life threw at him. Dave smiled when he noticed who faces were plastered across the front of the magazine he held. Alvin's smug look stared back at him with a confidence that Dave knew Alvin himself sometimes questioned.

Dave had to complement them though; they took everything in stride. And, he noticed as he looked over the page, Alvin had fully mastered that eye-brow-lifted look. He had spent hours in front of the mirror trying to perfect that one face for the photo shoot. Dave could still hear Alvin's cry of triumph when he had actually accomplished it. He had then come running down the stairs in happiness and showed Dave and his brothers at least twenty times each that he could do it.

Dave shook his head and got up to tidy up the living room a little bit. It wasn't exactly messy, but he needed something to keep him busy.

He sighed as he moved the pillows on the couch to near perfection and strained his ears to hear what Alvin was doing. When his ears turned up nothing he resolved to go up and talk. Alvin had had time to calm down.

_Brrrrring… Brrrrring…. Brrrrring…. _

Dave rushed across the house in an effort to grab the phone before it hit the fourth ring and picked it up just as it was starting.

"Hello, Seville Residence. Dave speaking." He issued the standard greeting he had been trying to get the boys to say for years, but with no such luck. They usually only just answered with, "Hello" "Hi" or "Talk to me" depending one which was speaking.

"Hey, Dave. Sy Heaves here." Dave winced as the man's voice came over the phone. Sy had been the boys' record producer and manager since they were little, but Dave didn't exactly get along well with him.

"G'afternoon, Sy," Dave answered, trying to be pleasant. "What can I do for you?"

"Well," Sy began what would probably be a very long speech, "as you probably know, the boys have been getting a whole lotta publicity lately." Dave rolled his eyes, _really? I hadn't noticed._ "And I decided that they need to do a concert."

Dave blanched. "Excuse me. Did you just say that you scheduled a concert without speaking with me _or_ the boys?!" That was low, even for Sy.

"Sure."

Dave's mouth dropped open in shock.

"I mean, I already saw that new song that you wrote and it's perfect; especially when you consider what they've been through lately."

Dave's eyes hardened, even though Sy couldn't see that through the phone. "I don't think _you've_ considered what they've been through. Alvin has a mild concussion and can't go to school for two days, Simon was just punched in the face and Theodore's been emotionally scarred by all this."

"Did you just say that Simon was punched in the face?"

Dave's face took on a sheepish look before he replied, "I did? Ooops, that's not positive yet."

"What? N-never mind, never mind. So, what'd you say? Do you think the boys will be up for it?"

"I dunno..." Dave began unsurely as he rubbed the back of his neck while looking out the window.

"C'mon Dave, that song is perfect. What'd you call it? Approval?"

"Acceptance."

"Perfect! Perfect! Call me back when you've made up your mind." The phone clicked as suddenly as it had rang and Dave stared at it for a few seconds before hanging up.

Dave shook his head to get rid of any stale taste left over from that conversation and moved back toward the living room to begin lining up the knick-knacks. But, just as he had made it across the landing, the phone trilled again. He slapped his forehead once before turning and trudging his way back.

After the second ring, the phone stopped right as Dave's hand hovered over it. He shook his head and turned back around to go back toward the living room.

He managed to get all the way past the couch before Alvin yelled from upstairs. "Dave!" His high pitched voice would've made any other person writhe on the floor in agony, but Dave was used to it. "Phone!" Ah, so that's why it had stopped ringing. Alvin had managed to catch it on the upstairs phone.

Dave resisted the urge to pound his head into the wall and quickly, but not enthusiastically, made his way back toward the phone. He picked it up, checked the caller I.D., saw the name of the school, and scrambled to hit the 'talk' button before holding it up to his ear.

"Dave speaking."

"Hello, Dave. This is Mr. Tal-"

"Hang on, Mr. Talbot." Dave had a keen ear for when one of the boys was listening in on his phone conversations. He could hear quiet breathing on the other end. "Get off the phone, Alvin."

"Ah, but Da-"

"Now, Alvin."

There was some grumbling, but Dave heard the _click_ he was listening for and nodded to himself. "You were saying."

Mr. Talbot laughed quietly to himself, "It seems someone's feeling better."

Dave smiled before replying, "Yes, but he still won't be in tomorrow, just to be safe."

"Of course." There was a pause as the speaker gathered his thoughts before he plowed on. "I'm calling about Simon."

Suddenly, Dave was on the defensive. "Simon?"

"Yes, there's been a rumor going around school that he was physically attacked today. Unfortunately, Simon hasn't come to talk to me, and none of the faculty saw the episode. I was hoping you could maybe speak to him about it at home and see if he'll come tell me about it tomorrow."

"I'm sure Alvin will take care of that. Brittany will be sure to call him as soon as she gets home and he'll want justice." Of course, Alvin already knew, but Dave couldn't tell Talbot that.

"Yes, I noticed that about Alvin. He may have faults, but he knows how to take care of his family."

Dave smiled and nodded before replying. "Yes, he's a good brother. Is that all you wanted?"

"Yes, Dave. Thank you for your time."

"Thanks for calling."

--

"A small tap?! Are you kidding me, Simon?! He broke your glasses!" Alvin yelled as he paced in front of Simon's bed. Theodore was downstairs with Dave, helping make dinner while Simon glared right back at Alvin from where was perched on his bed.

"Actually, he broke my glasses before he punched me."

"So… lemme get this straight. He took your glasses off your face, smashed them on the ground, and then punched you? Well, that's an improvement. He saved you from getting glass in your eyes balls."

Simon shook his head. "Glasses aren't actually made of glass. They're a syndicated plastic that – "

"Save the sermon for someone who cares, Simon. Why didn't you go to Talbot?"

Simon shrugged in response and pursed his lips. "It didn't seem like a good idea at the time."

Alvin groaned and looked up at the ceiling, as if asking whoever was up there to strike him down. "At the time? Are you _kidding_ me?! You've used that excuse too many times to count."

Simon crossed his arms and stared Alvin down. He knew that going to Talbot was the reasonable choice, but, there was something in his gut telling him to keep his mouth shut. He usually never listened to his gut, always being the 'smart and responsible one' but this time the feeling was just too strong for him to ignore.

Alvin calmly climbed onto Simon's bed and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "I'm not always gonna be there to make sure that you don't get hurt. Please, go talk to Talbot about this?!" He was pleading now, his blue eyes beseeching Simon to make the right and logical choice.

Simon looked away, not sure what to do anymore. Sure, Alvin had a point in that he _had_ been physically assaulted, but there was also something deeper to this than he could pinpoint at this specific moment in time. He would need time to examine all the angles and perspectives before he could figure out what.

Alvin's face took on a frustrated look at Simon's silence and he pushed his away, disgusted. "Fine! Get beat up! See if I care! But, mark my words, if something happens to Theodore because of your fright of telling an adult – something you've been good at all your life, until now – _I'll_ be the one you need to afraid of. I'll be the one that'll break this pair of glasses."

Simon knew that Alvin would never hold that promise, but that way his face was set and the dark tone in his voice made him suspect otherwise. Alvin had always been seriously protective over Theodore to the point that if anyone, even Simon, threatened his safety; he didn't let it go on.

Suddenly, with just that look on Alvin's face. Simon decided to ignore his gut and go with what his brother was trying to tell him. "Fine. I'll talk to Talbot tomorrow."

As if someone had thrown a switch, Alvin's face changed. He was no longer the fearless guard-brother; he was the fun-loving boy Simon had grown up with.

"Good," he replied, nodding that he was happy with the choice. "Now let's go coat Theodore and Dave with egg."

* * *

**Well, what'd you think?! I wanna know! And the only way for you to tell me is to REVIEW!!**

**Do eeeeet! **

**Now, I think this is one of my best chapters to date, mainly because my writing style has evolved since I first began this story. Anybody else notice that? If you go back and re-read the whole story, you will see how it has changed from the first chapter to now. **

**Unfortunately, updates on this story will be slow. This is mainly due to **_**The Prince, the Pauper, and the Purposeless**_** (Go to my profile and check it out if you haven't already! *Bricked for selfless plugging*) I don't like to write more than one story at a time, and this story has finally fallen on the backburner for right now. I have the whole ending plot, but, it's just that, right now, TPtPatP, is more interesting to me. But, don't worry; I will periodically work on this one. When I'm in the mood, or just need to write something. There will be an update on this one at least once a month. **

**Now, if you'll please excuse me, I'm gonna go and bask in my Post-update cheer and dance around my room singing Classic Disney songs until I pass out from exhaustion. **

**NOW REVIEW!! And I just, might, might, might think about updating this one again… depends on how many review I get. **


	28. AN! DON'T KILL ME!

**_Note: This is the same note on The Prince, The Pauper, and the Purposeless. If you have already read it, you don't have to again. There is a sneak peak at the bottom though.) _**

**TO: Chipmunk fans on Fanfiction (My readers) **

**FROM: Ashley (Chipmunklover)**

**DATE: June 28, 2009**

**SUBJECT: PLEASE, DON'T KILL ME!! **

**Jeeze, guys. I'm really sorry about this, but, unfortunately, I'm gonna have to put all my Chipmunk stories on hiatus for a little while. **

**You see, for the past few weeks, I've been trying over and over again to write these stories (**_**Bad Luck Days; The Prince, the Pauper, and the Purposeless; Memory Blank**_**) but I keep hitting the worse wall of writer's block in the world. (My last chapter of TPtPatP shows the beginnings of this.) For the longest time I've thought that I was in some kind of writing depression; that, somehow, I had lost my ability to write as well as I used to, but then I got re-obsessed with Danny Phantom. I started a fanfic for that about a week ago, and was able to write exceptionally well. **

**So, for a while there, I thought I was back in the swing of things, but, that was not to be. I managed to write a little bit on the next chapter of Bad Luck Days, but then I got stuck again. **

**My only understanding on this anomaly was what one of my friends told me: **

"_**I don't think that you're in so much of a writing depression as you are burnt out. Things like that do happen from time to time."**_

**(You're awesome Tal!) **

**So, if your guessing what I'm about to say, get ready to facepalm or facevault – depending on your preference. Yes, I'm burnt out on writing Chipmunk fanfics. It wasn't all fanfiction like I originally thought – just this particular fandom. **

**I think another reason for this Writer's block is also because I'm obsessed with too many things right now. Here's the condensed list: **

**Chipmunks**

**Danny Phantom**

**Avatar: The Last Airbender (I'm hoping the live action movie doesn't end up like the Chipmunks one, but I don't have high hopes.) **

**Pokémon**

**Digimon**

**There's probably a whole lot more than that, considering I'm not sure how far gone I am in my Pixar stage yet. **

**(Yes, Pokémon and Digimon made the top five list. Check my YouTube channel if you want proof – under the favs.) **

**Anyway, I'm sorry about this guys. You've all been really supportive this last year. I remember when I first showed up here – still in junior high and not very confident in my writing, but you all helped me become what I am today… A slightly better writer with a lot of new friends. I'm very proud to be apart of this community. (Though I doubt one could call me the Chipmunk community lifeline, or one of the senior members of this fandom – or some of the many uplifting things people have called me in review replies and PMs.) And I look forward to reading everyone else's work out there. I know I'm not a huge reviewer, but I will be trying in the next few weeks. **

**On a good note, I will have a lot of free time to work on the commentary for TPtPatP – Yay! **

**I will be attempting to write on both stories in the next few days, but my focus will be mainly on my Danny Phantom story (**_**Rückkehr **_**– German for "Return"). If you like that awesome cartoon *curses Nick for cancelling it* check it out. **

**And, this note has nothing to do with Kitty Seville's and my story **_**Alllviiin!: Through the Years.**_** We should be updating that one soon. **

**Anyway, I'm rambling now… Please excuse me while I go sit in the 104 degree F Texas weather and play my Game Boy color. (Game: Original Pokémon game: Special Pikachu edition.)**

**I shall see you all when I finally manage to break this block! **

**--**

**Oh! Since I had this already written for this story, I've decided to give you a sneak peak. But, be warned, it's not that entertaining, and it's unfinished – so it cuts off randomly. **

* * *

"Crap," Alvin muttered as Mario fell off the moving platform and into the abyss. The traditional death music played and Alvin threw his controller down in disgust.

Dave sent him a look before moving Luigi across the map screen to the stage where Alvin had just died.

"I mean…. crud…?" Alvin's voice rose at the end of the statement, making it a question, while he smiled winningly at Dave.

Since Alvin still wasn't able to go to school, he had begged Dave all morning to play video games with him, but unfortunately, the only gaming system Dave knew how to play was the Nintendo Gaming System from back in the 80's-90's. Alvin had wanted to play the PlayStation 2, but Dave was incapable of pushing all those buttons at once and Alvin was now being subjected to Super Mario Brothers three. It was a simple game in concept. Just get through the levels without dying, but Alvin had died at least three times already and if it hadn't been for Dave trading characters with him for a while, he surely would've been out of the game.

While Dave was moving his green man across the screen, Alvin would occasionally hit the start button, pausing the game just to get on Dave's nerves. For a few minutes, Dave seemed to ignore this because Alvin would only do it for a few seconds, but after a while it was getting tedious and Dave grabbed the controller away from the boy.

"Hey!" Alvin protested.

Dave shook his head. "The first player controller is the only one that can pause the game. If you're gonna abuse that power, you don't get to hold it unless you're playing."

Alvin grumbled under his breath about how stupid the game was, but perked up when Dave committed suicide in the same place he had before. He sent him a smug look before grabbing his controller back and trying to level again.

"So, you ready to start school again tomorrow?" Dave asked while Alvin was jumping from one platform to the next. He managed to get past the part that had killed him before and let out a small victory yell when he saw it was the last platform in the level. He held down the 'B' button to get Mario running and jumped at the box holding the key to end of the level. It was flashing different shapes and he mentally crossed his fingers for a star.

He got what he wished and threw his hands up in happiness. "Not really." He answered while he did a small victory dance in his seat.

* * *

**Okay, guys. I told you it cut off. That's it. Hope you enjoyed reading my note… and don't want to kill me. Feel free to leave reviews. I'll probably leave this note here when I finally manage to write again; just to prove what a horrible person I am for leaving you all hanging. **

**Anyway, before I go, I must ask that you check out a few people's works. I owe both of these people at least one review, so I'm gonna send you all their way to get them to leave me alone about the reviews for a while… (Kidding guys. You'll get your reviews eventually… Just like I'll write eventually.) **

**Lord Narf  
Mpkio2**

**Catch ya on the flip side! **


	29. Adoption of the Fondest Kind AN AGAIN

Hey guys, does it seem to you that I'm constantly apologizing to you? It does? Good. I thought it was just me.

So, I'm here to apologize once again, for you see, I'm about to do something I've never done before.

I'm putting a story up for adoption.

GASP!

Yeah, you all know that it's been almost a year since I've updated this, and I've decided that that's too dang long. Of course, high school has taken priority seating off all else, but that's no excuse.

So, you probably know that I'm in a writing rut right now. Because of this, I'm officially putting up my story _Bad Luck Days_ for adoption. I don't have time to write it anymore, and I'm fresh out of (creative) ideas. If you would like to adopt it, just send me a message and I'll check you out. (Not like that) Of course, you have to be a well qualified and well versed author, and I _will_ be reading your work before I accept you. And, of course, there is another catch to this. I _have_ to be your beta, as my name is on the story and yours will be as well. Plus, I don't take well to screwed up grammar and spelling. Please, message me if you're interested!

I'm almost as shocked as most of you probably are. Two years ago, I had never even considered the _notion_ that I would be freely giving one of my stories away for someone else to write. My stories are like my children in much the way that I'm _very_ overprotective of them and don't like other people touching them. (Unless, of course, I'm writing it with another person, then they can touch them. (Wow… I didn't mean for that to sound wrong…))

A lot of people probably don't remember this story, because of the fact that it hasn't been updated in a while and it's buried _deep_ in the archive by now. If you are just discovering it, please do review. I still love reviews. XD

Oh, and if you decide to adopt it, I'll tell you all my plans on where I was going with it. Of course, you can take it in any direction you want, but I will share with you what I had planned.

If no one adopts it, then it will go unfinished. So, sorry if no one takes it up. I will probably getting around to rewriting my previous chapters that aren't up to par for fact that the story's quality seems to differ between chapters (blame that on writer's block and school work).

Other than that, I'm done with my rant. This is not a joke; this is not one of those come back three days later and go "Just kidding! I'm gonna keep writing it now!" I'm officially done with this story other than the rewrite.

That sounded harsh.

Sorry.

So please, I'm begging here, someone, _anyone_ please adopt this story! (There are a few people I'd personally like to adopt it, but if they don't respond, then I'll take what I can get.) It needs to be finished because it's been left off for so long. PLEASE!

Thank you for reading and you'll hopefully see another chapter from the new writer (if I find one) in the near future.

May God bless you all and – if you will – I'm gonna ask for you to pray for me so that I may be able to get back into the swing of writing TPtPatP. It, too, has gone too far without being updated. (I won't put that one up for adoption though, if only because I'm so fond of it myself.)


	30. Chapter 30

_**Well, what do you know? This story's gotten another chapter! Hey everybody! It's BrittanySeville18, now known asSawyerSeville19, who's currently taken this beautiful and amazing story in for adoption! First things first, this chapter and any future ones go through Hikari-san42 before being uploaded, so she knows what I'm writing.**_

_**Second, this chapter is short because I want to get you guys into the groove of having me be the current writer.**_

_**Third, I'm not going to be around a computer until sometime in January, so the updates will be slow, along with the fact I'm working on my own stories. I have begun another chapter and will be working on it until I leave later today.**_

_**With that said, please enjoy and review!**_

_**-SawyerSeville19**_

"Crap," Alvin muttered as Mario fell off the moving platform and into the abyss. The traditional death music played and Alvin threw his controller down in disgust.

Dave sent him a look before moving Luigi across the map screen to the stage where Alvin had just died.

"I mean… crud…?" Alvin's voice rose at the end of the statement, making it a question, while he smiled winningly at Dave.

Since Alvin still wasn't able to go to school, he had begged Dave all morning to play video games with him, but unfortunately, the only gaming system Dave knew how to play was the Nintendo Gaming System from back in the 80's-90's. Alvin had wanted to play the PlayStation 2, but Dave was incapable of pushing all those buttons at once and Alvin was now being subjected to Super Mario Brothers three. It was a simple game in concept. Just get through the levels without dying, but Alvin had died at least three times already and if it hadn't been for Dave trading characters with him for a while, he surely would've been out of the game.

While Dave was moving his green man across the screen, Alvin would occasionally hit the start button, pausing the game just to get on Dave's nerves. For a few minutes, Dave seemed to ignore this because Alvin would only do it for a few seconds, but after a while it was getting tedious and Dave grabbed the controller away from the boy.

"Hey!" Alvin protested.

Dave shook his head. "The first player controller is the only one that can pause the game. If you're gonna abuse that power, you don't get to hold it unless you're playing."

Alvin grumbled under his breath about how stupid the game was, but perked up when Dave committed suicide in the same place he had before. He sent him a smug look before grabbing his controller back and trying the level again.

"So, you ready to start school again tomorrow?" Dave asked while Alvin was jumping from one platform to the next. He managed to get past the part that had killed him before and let out a small victory yell when he saw it was the last platform in the level. He held down the 'B' button to get Mario running and jumped at the box holding the key to end of the level. It was flashing different shapes and he mentally crossed his fingers for a star.

He got what he wished and threw his hands up in happiness. "Not really." He answered while he did a small victory dance in his seat.

Dave sighed and shook his head.

Alvin resumed playing the game, pleased with his results. _I hope you'll keep your word, Simon._

Simon and Theodore had just finished their food and were headed to their after-lunch recess when the blue clad chipmunk suddenly stopped walking.

Theodore looked up at his brother in confusion. "What's wrong, Simon?" Simon looked at Theodore before sighing and looking up in thought. His gray eyes shifted in thought for a moment.

"Come on, Theodore," Simon said once he made up his mind about something. He guided Theodore with him back into the building and towards Talbot's office.

It didn't take Theodore long to realize where they were going, or the reasons why they were going there. "Simon..."

Simon chose to ignore Theodore as he knocked on Talbot's door.

"Come in," Talbot responded. Simon turned the door knob and let Theodore in before following. "Ah, Simon, Theodore. I was hoping to see you two today. How's Alvin?"

"He's doing better. He'll be coming back tomorrow," Simon responded. They took a seat in the chair across from Talbot's desk.

"That's good to hear. So, how may I help you today?" Talbot asked, giving Simon his full attention.

Simon swallowed and pulled at the neck of his shirt, his usual nervous habit.

After school, Dave was there to pick Simon and Theodore up. With Alvin acting like his normal self, Dave felt it was safe to assume his other sons went unharmed today. This in itself was a very rare occurrence. But something he readily appreciated given the circumstances.

Simon and Theodore were walking out of the school with a few of their friends with them. Dave recognized them from when he would pick them up other times. By the looks of it, the boy and girl were twins. He'd never noticed it before.

He watched them wave goodbye to their friends and they climbed into the car.

"Hey you two. How was school?" Dave asked, starting the car once he was sure they had their seat belts on.

They were silent for a moment, making Dave think something had happened again.

Simon and Theodore looked at one another, and Simon realized he would have to be the one to tell Dave, and Alvin. He could see Theodore wouldn't be able to handle telling the information. Feeling well under pressure once more, Simon looked over at Dave.

"Can it wait till we get home? Then we'll tell you and Alvin at the same time," Simon suggested, fidgeting with his hands.

Many thoughts ran through Dave's head, but he settled with a nod and the rest of the car ride was silent.

When they arrived home Dave wasted no time in calling Alvin downstairs. Alvin came bounding downstairs and made his way into the den. He saw Dave sitting in the chair diagonal from the couch. He looked over at his brothers and saw that they looked distracted. This he saw more on Simon's face, and could tell his brother was having a strong mental debate.

He looked towards Dave once more, walking further into the den. "What's going on, Dave?" He looked at his brothers. "Did something happen at school?" His questions went unanswered.

_In all reality, _Simon thought to himself, _I shouldn't be this worked up about something like this. But I can't get rid of this feeling that something bad is going to happen now... _He lifted his eyes and looked at Alvin. "I talked to Talbot," he said. Both Dave and Alvin looked pleased with this information, but given the two's withdrawn behavior, they knew that that wasn't all of it.

"And?" Dave pressed gently. Alvin walked over to his brothers and climbed onto the couch next to them. Theodore remained silent, his eyes fixed on his lap.

"And..." Simon let out a breath.

"Did anyone bother you today?" Alvin asked. Theodore looked at him and shook his head no. "Really?"

"We didn't believe it... at first," Simon began. "But then we were reminded by several of the students that used to pick on us, that they were sorry."

"Sorry?" Alvin demanded. "That's all they have to say for themselves, is _sorry_?" Clearly, Alvin wasn't convinced. He'd ask Simon what he meant by "we were reminded" part later.

"It's true," Theodore spoke up. "By the end of the day at least one fourth of the school were apologizing to us and trying to make amends."

"And what about Brett?" Alvin asked. Theodore didn't answer that question. Alvin looked at Simon, "You did tell Talbot about Brett, right?" For all Alvin knew, Simon could have avoided using their bully's name.

"Of course I did, I told you I would, didn't I?" Simon snapped. Alvin gave his brother a look.

"For all I know you could have used some loophole to tell Talbot without giving him a name," Alvin retorted.

"Well he knows now!" Simon stated firmly.

"So what's got you all distracted and thinking so much then?" Alvin asked. Simon got quiet again, refusing to meet their eyes. "Simon, you'd better tell us." If his brothers had been hurt, Alvin wanted to know how and by whom. He was just hoping that wasn't what had happened.

Theodore looked at Simon out of the corner of his eye, understanding why his older brother was having such a hard time. It wasn't so much that he and Simon were unwilling to tell them, more so it was the guilt of having made Talbot think what he had done was the only solution. It was _that_ that made them reluctant to pass the information around.

"Talbot put Brett on temporary expulsion, but tomorrow he wants to have us all at a conference. He says if things are worked out, then he'll let Brett remain on campus, with strict rules on leaving us be," Simon said. "But if not, and he learns that Brett did something to us, it'll be a permanent expulsion."

Alvin looked at Dave, seeing he was just as shocked by the drastic decision and change that was taking place as he was.

Looking back at his brothers, Alvin wondered how he should feel about this change. They all sat in silence, listening to their thoughts.

_**Hey there everyone! This is Hikari-san42 (formerly known as Chipmunklover), the original writer of this monster. As you all well know, I had put this story up for adoption, and I've finally gotten off my butt and chosen someone. I hope you all accept her as your new writer, because I have and – really – that should be enough. **_

_**The Prince, the Pauper, and the Purposeless is still on an indefinite hold because I'm not much into the Chipmunks anymore (I've migrated towards Sonic; I've posted a story in that fandom if you're interested. *plug advertise plug*). I hope to start work on that as soon as I get my groove back. **_

_**Other than that, you won't be hearing much from me anymore when it comes to this story, because it's not my place to be talking. I'm not writing it anymore and I won't have much say on where it goes, as I've given up all my rights. But, I believe in my foster parent and I'm sure she'll do great. **_

_**Now, if you will, please review?**_


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